PROCEEDINGS 


OF  THE 


THIRD  ANNUAL  MEETING 


OF  THE 


SURVIVOR'S  ASSOCIAT 


OF  THE 


STATE  OF  SOUTH  CAROLINA; 

AND  THE  ANNUAL  ADDRESS  BY 

GENERAL   JUBAL   A.  EARLY. 

'X''  ■       #  „  * 

DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE  ASSOCIATION,  NOVEMBER  10,  1871. 


CHARLESTON,  S.  C. 
WALKER,  EVANS  &  COGSWELL,  PRINTERS, 

Nos.  3  Broad  and  109  East  Bay  streets.  J* 

1872. 


PROCEEDINGS 


OF  THE 


THIRD  ANNUAL  MEETING 


or  THE 


SURVIVORS'  ASSOCIATION, 


OF  THE 


STATE  OF  SOUTH  CAROLINA; 


AND  THE  ANNUAL  ADDRESS  BY 


GENERAL  JUBAL  A.  EARLY. 


DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE  ASSOCIATION,  NOVEMBER  10,  1871. 


CHARLESTON,  S.  C. 
WALKER,  EVANS  &  COGSWELL,  PRINTERS, 
Nos.  3  Broad  and  109  East  Bay  streets. 

1872. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2013 


http://archive.org/details/proceedingsofthiOOsurv 


F3Z 


THIRD  ANNUAL  MEETING 

OF  THE 

SURVIVORS'  ASSOCIATION 

OF  THE 

STATE  OF  SOUTH  CAROLINA. 


Carolina  Hall,  "I 
Columbia,  November  ioth,  1871.  j 

The  Association  assembled  at  10  o'clock,  A.  M.,  and,  in  the 
absence  of  the  President,  was  called  to  order  by  General  J. 
B.  Kershaw,  Vice-President. 

The  following  officers  and  delegates  were  present : 

Major  General  J.  B.  KERSHAW,  Vice-President. 

Major  General  M.  C.  BUTLER,  Vice-President. 

Major  T.  G.  BARKER,  Vice-President. 

Colonel  A.  C.  HASKELL,  Secretary. 

Captain  W.  K.  BACHMAN,  Treasurer. 

Executive  Board. — General  JAMES  CONNER,  Colonel 
JAMES  H.  RION,  Colonel  W.  M.  WALLACE. 

DELEGATES. 

Charleston — Captain  J.  S.  Fairly,  Captain  A.  G.  Magrath,  Jr., 
Captain  James  Armstrong,  Jr.,  and  Captain  W.  G.  Whilden. 

Chester — James  Johnson,  Captain  Julius  Mills,  S.  P.  Hamil- 
ton and  Captain  W.  H.  Brawley. 

Chesterfield — J.  A.  Wilson. 

Edgefield — L.  F.  Youmans,  H.  W.  Addison. 

Fairfield — Captain  S.  B.  Clowney,  DuBose  Egleston. 

Greenville — Captain  W.  H.  Perry. 

Kershaw — General  James  Chesnut,  General  J.  D.  Kennedy, 
Captain  W.  G.  Leitner,  Dr.  A.  A.  Moore,  Captain  W.  L.  De 
Pass. 

Lexington — W.  W.  Rice. 


4 


Marlboro1 — John  W.  Harrington. 
Newberry — T.  S.  Moorman. 

Orangeburg — Captain  T.  D.  Trezevant,  Colonel  A.  A.  Good- 
wyn,  Dr.  C.  S.  Darby. 

Richland — Captain  D.  B.  DeSaussure,  John  D.  Caldwell, 
Colonel  J.  P.  Thomas,  Colonel  Thomas  Taylor,  Dr.  J.  T. 
Darby. 

Sumter — Colonel  J.  D.  Blanding,  Guignard  Richardson. 
York — Colonel  Cadwallader  Jones. 

Laurens — Captain  H.  L.  McGowan,  Captain  Thos.  B. 
Crews,  Captain  H.  Legare  Farley. 

The  President,  General  Hampton,  arrived  and  took  the 
Chair. 

Major  T.  G.  Barker  offered  the  following  resolution,  which 
was  adopted : 

Resolved,  That  alternate  delegates  be  invited  to  participate 
in  the  proceedings  of  this  Convention. 

Also,  the  following,  which  was  adopted : 

Resolved,  That  General  Johnson  Hagood  be  requested  to 
represent  the  County  of  Barnwell  in  this  Convention. 

Colonel  Thomas  offered  the  following,  which  was  adopted  : 

Resolved,  That  the  reading  of  the  proceedings  of  the  last 
Convention  be  dispensed  with — they  having  been  printed ; 
and  that  the  Secretary  be  instructed  to  distribute  copies 
among  the  delegates. 

General  James  Conner,  in  the  absence  of  Colonel  Mc- 
Crady,  Chairman  of  the  Executive  Board,  read  the  following 
report  of  said  committee : 

The  Executive  Board  respectfully  report,  that  during  the 
last  year  they  have  continued  their  efforts  to  collect  material 
for  the  history  of  the  State  of  South  Carolina  during  the  late 
war,  and  have  obtained  possession  of  some  most  valuable 
original  papers  relating  to  the  inauguration  of  the  war  upon 
the  secession  of  the  State  in  December,  i860,  and  some 
original  rolls  of  the  first  troops  raised  by  the  State.  They 
have  also  received  a  number  of  returns  from  officers  of  com- 
panies, in  response  to  circular  of  July  1,  1870,  issued  by  the 
President,  a  list  of  which  is  annexed  as  Exhibit  A. 

At  the  last  meeting,  the  Board  were  authorized  to  publish 


5 


by  subscription,  upon  the  plan  reported  by  them,  the  roll  of 
the  dead  prepared  by  Professor  Rivers,  as  re-arranged  and  re- 
ported, in  two  editions ;  the  first  edition  for  corrections  and 
additions,  and  the  second,  so  corrected  and  added  to  in  per- 
manent form.  Upon  the  adjournment  of  that  meeting,  the 
Board  prepared  and  issued  circulars  asking  assistance  in  pro- 
curing subscribers  to  the  publication.  These  circulars,  in- 
closing blank  forms  for  subscription  lists,  were  sent  by  mail 
to  all  the  general  officers,  and  many  other  persons,  officers 
and  others,  and  to  all  the  newspapers  in  the  State ;  and  again 
in  March,  a  note  was  addressed  to  each  person  to  whom  a 
circular  was  sent,  and  from  whom  no  reply  had  been  received, 
asking  if  the  circular  had  reached  him,  and  urging  him  to  en- 
deavor to  obtain  subscribers. 

The  District  Association  of  Charleston  employed  a  can- 
vasser to  canvass  the  city  of  Charleston  for  subscribers,  and 
by  this  means  obtained  400  subscriptions  in  that  city.  The 
Board  have  also  received  the  following  lists  :  Abbeville,  from 
General  Samuel  McGowan,  50  subscribers;  Edgefield,  from 
General  M.  L.  Bonham,  50 ;  Georgetown,  from  Colonel  B.  H. 
Wilson,  44 ;  Kershaw,  from  Captain  Kershaw,  — ;  Barnwell, 
from  Robert  Aldrich,  21. 

The  Board  having  thus  been  able  to  obtain  but  565  subscri- 
bers, instead  of  1,000,  made  an  arrangement  with  Messrs. 
Walker,  Evans  &  Cogswell,  of  Charleston,  publishers,  by 
which  they  hope  that  the  work  will  be  carried  out.  The  ar- 
rangement is,  that  the  Board  have  turned  over  to  Messrs. 
Walker,  Evans  &  Cogswell  the  list  of  subscribers  obtained — 
they  (Messrs.  Walker,  Evans  &  Cogswell)  undertaking  to  pub- 
lish the  work  under  the  auspices  of  the  Association,  provided 
they  can  obtain  1,000  subscribers,  and  from  the  first  profits 
thereof,  if  any,  to  re-imburse  this  Association  for  all  expenses 
incurred  up  to  the  time  of  the  agreement. 

The  Board  was  authorized  to  purchase,  as  soon  as  the 
Treasurer  should  be  in  funds,  after  having  paid  the  amounts 
then  already  ordered,  a  complete  file  of  official  reports  issued 
by  the  War  Department  of  the  Confederate  States,  and  such 
other  histories  as  they  might  deem  important  at  once  to  ob- 
tain, and  to  draw  on  the  Treasurer,  when  so  in  funds,  therefor 
to  an  amount  not  exceeding  $125. 

The  Treasurer  has  not  been  in  funds  for  the  above  men- 
tioned purposes,  but  the  Board  having  an  opportunity  of  se- 
curing a  complete  file  of  such  official  reports,  purchased  the 
same  for  the  Association,  and  advanced  the  cost,  viz :  $60. 


6 


The  Board  were  authorized  to  obtain  a  place  of  deposit  for 
the  records  and  books  of  the  Association,  which  should  be 
accessible  to  all,  and  to  expend  upon  the  same  a  sum  of  not 
more  than  $25  for  shelves,  &c.  In  pursuance  of  this  instruc- 
tion, the  Board  applied  to  the  Charleston  Library  Society  for 
the  use  of  a  part  of  a  room  in  the  library  building,  which  they 
kindly  consented  to  allow,  and  the  records  and  papers  of  the 
Association  have  been  placed  there.  The  Treasurer  has  not 
been  able  to  furnish  the  Board  with  the  funds  they  were  au- 
thorized to  expend  upon  this  place  of  deposit  of  the  records. 

To  the  request  of  the  Association,  that  all  persons  having 
original  reports  or  other  papers  relating  to  the  operations  of 
the  war,  would  permit  the  Board  to  have  copies  made  of  the 
same,  the  Board  have  to  report  that  Major-General  Samuel 
Jones,  of  Virginia,  who  at  one  time  commanded  the  depart- 
ment of  South  Carolina,  Georgia  and  Florida,  has  offered  for 
copy  a  book  in  which  are  recorded  many  letters,  and  a  few 
reports  of  military  operations  during  the  time  he  commanded 
the  department,  and  also  copies  of  telegrams  having  special 
reference  to  the  operations  along  the  line  of  the  Charleston 
and  Savannah  Railroad  in  December,  1864,  but  the  Board 
have,  as  yet,  been  unable  to  avail  themselves  of  the  offer,  in 
consequence  of  the  want  of  means  with  which  to  defray  the 
expense  of  having  these  papers  copied. 

In  this  connection,  the  Board  have  to  report  that  General 
Samuel  McGowan  has  presented  the  Association  with  a  most 
valuable  book  of  casualties  in  his  brigade,  commencing  from 
the  battle  of  Chancellorsville,  the  first  in  which  he  commanded 
the  brigade,  and  extending  to  the  end  of  the  war,  and  that 
General  Johnson  Hagood  has  furnished  a  complete  roll  of  the 
general,  field  and  staff  and  company  officers  of  his  brigade, 
and  that  the  rolls  of  (Gregg's)  first  South  Carolina  volunteers, 
is  now  nearly  complete,  wanting  only  the  roll  of  Company 
A  and  C. 

The  Board  were  instructed  to  select  and  invite  some  suita- 
ble person  to  deliver  an  oration  before  the  Association  at  this 
annual  meeting.  This  duty  they  performed,  and  have  to  re- 
port that  Lieutenant-General  Jubal  A.  Early,  P.  A.  C.  S.,  of 
Virginia,  accepted  their  invitation  to  address  the  Association 
at  this  meeting. 

It  was  referred  to  the  Board  to  consider  and  report  at  this 
meeting  on  a  design  for  a  certificate  of  membership.  They 
have  had  this  subject  under  consideration,  and  recommend 
the  adoption  of  the  design  hereto  annexed  as  Exhibit  B,  a 


7 


description  of  which  is  appended  as  Exhibit  C.  They  further 
recommend  that  it  be  referred  to  a  committee  of  three  to  con- 
sider and  report,  at  the  next  meeting  of  this  Association,  a 
plan  for  having  the  same  lithographed  aud  issued  to  the  mem- 
bers, and  providing  for  the  expenses  thereof. 

The  Board  have  not  been  able  to  procure  a  suitable  design 
for  a  medal  to  be  worn  by  the  members  of  the  District  Asso- 
ciation, which  they  were  instructed  to  do  by  resolution  at  the 
last  meeting,  and,  in  consideration  of  other  pressing  demands 
upon  their  attention,  respectfully  ask  to  be  discharged  from 
the  further  consideration  of  the  subject. 

At  the  last  meeting  the  Board  reported  as  follows :  The 
Board  did  not  feel  themselves  authorized  to  employ  a  libra- 
rian until  some  definite  arrangement  had  been  made  in  regard 
to  the  finances  of  the  Association.  But  they  are  anxious  to 
have  the  office  filled  at  once.  The  correspondence  in  regard 
to  the  rolls  now  being  prepared  is  large,  the  custody  of  the 
papers  a  matter  of  responsibility,  and  their  arrangement  a 
work  requiring  more  time  and  attention  than  can  be  given 
but  by  a  person  regularly  employed  to  attend  to  it.  They 
think  that  for  the  small  salary  of  $100  they  could  obtain  the 
services  of  a  competent  person  to  perform  these  duties,  and 
reported  an  estimate  of  expenses  to  include  this  item,  which 
was  approved  by  the  Association. 

The  estimate  of  expenses,  as  reported  by  the  Board  and 
passed  by  the  Association  for  the  year,  was  $600,  but,  as  will 
appear  by  the  Treasurer's  report,  he  was  enabled  to  collect 
but  $208  74 ;  leaving  a  deficiency  of  amount,  then  reported, 
$391  21.  In  other  words,  the  Treasurer  has  only  been  able 
to  pay  the  expenses  incurred  for  the  year  1869  and  I870,  and 
nothing  toward  the  expenses  of  the  year  just  ended,  1870-71. 
In  addition  to  this,  the  stationery  and  printing  expenses  for  the 
last  year  was  found  to  be  larger  than  the  Board  had  reported. 
This  increase  arising  principally  from  the  publication  of  the 
proceedings  of  two  meetings  during  the  year. 

Under  these  circumstances  the  Board  refrained  from  en- 
gaging the  services  of  a  librarian,  and  continued  to  perform 
the  duties  contemplated  for  that  office.  They  submit  the  fol- 
lowing estimate  of  expenses  for  the  ensuing  year : 

Estimate  of  Expenses — Expenses  Already  Incurred. — 
Stationery  and  printing,  including  proceedings  of  years  1869 
and  1870,  as  per  account,  $242  60;  purchase  of  official  re- 
ports, $60.    Total,  $302  60. 


8 


Expenses  of  Ensuing  Year. — Librarian,  $100;  hall, 
portage  and  contingent  expenses,  $100;  stationery,  and 
printing,  including  oration,  $200.  Total,  $600 ;  grand  total, 
#902  60. 

EXHIBIT  A. 

List  of  rolls  received  in  response  to  circular,  1st  July, 
1870,  since  last  report. — Co.  B,  1st  S.  C.  V.,  (Gregg's,) 
Captain  D.  P.  Goggans ;  Co.  E,  1st  S.  C.  V.,  (Gregg's,) 
Lieutenant  D.  A.  Smith;  Co.  G,  1st  S.  C.  V.,  (Gregg's,) 
Lieutenant-Colonel  A.  B.  Butler;  Co.  H,  1st,  (Gregg's,) 
Lieutenant  C.  J.  C.  Hutson ;  Co.  A,  2d,  Lieutenant  S.  L.  Leap- 
hart  ;  Co.  K,  3d,  Lieutenant  W.  B.  Peeples ;  Co.  I*  3d,  Cap- 
tain John  L.  Seabrook  ;  Co.  I,  4th,  Lieutenant  D.  E.  Gordon  ; 
Co.  H,  4th,  Captain  J.  E.  Foster ;  Co.  B,  5th,  Lieutenant  G. 

A.  Patrick;  Co.  G,  5th,  Captain  F.  G.  Latham;  Co.  G.,  6th, 
1st  Sergeant  W.  H.  Williams,  2d  Sergeant  W.  M.  Nelson  and 
Private  W.  F.  Jackson  ;  Co.  K,  6th,  Lieutenant  W.  S.  Brand ; 
Co.  G,  7th,  Captain  J.  C.  Williams  ;  Co.  B,  8th,  Captain  R. 
T.  Powell;  Co.  C,  10th,  Captain  C.  Johnson;  Co.  A,  10th, 
Captain  C.  C.  White;  Co.  H,  10th,  Captain  W.  J.  M.  Lee; 
Co.  K,  10th,  Captain  J.  S.  Porcher;  Co.  I,  10th,  Captain  B. 

B.  McWhite;  Co.  B,  nth,  Captain  Julius  J.  Wescoat; 
Co.  D,  13th,  Captain  James  Y.  McFall ;  Co.  F,  14th,  Cor- 
poral Pinckney  M.  Blakely;  Co.  E,  15th,  Captain  W.  W. 
Kirkland ;  Co.  G,  18th,  Captain  J.  W.  Bedmgudral ;  Co. 
G,  19th,  Lieutenaut  W.  V.  Clinkscales ;  Co.  C,  20th, 
Captain  Godfrey  Lehahart ;  Co.  I,  20th,  Lieutenant  Mansel 
Gunter;  Co.  E,  21st,  Lieutenant  Fred.  Richards;  Co.  A, 
23d,  Captain  John  C.  Evans  ;  Co.  A,  25th,  (W.  L.  I.)  Private 
J.  L.  Honour ;  Co.  D,  27th,  Captain  James  T.  Wells ; 
Co.  E,  Orr's  Rifles,  Captain  James  T.  Reid ;  Co.  K,  Orr's 
Rifles,  Captain  W.  C.  Wardlaw ;  Co.  M,  Palmetto  Sharp 
Shooters,  Captain  F.  G.  Latham  ;  Co.  G,  3d  S.  C.  Cavalry, 

Captain  Theo.  Cordes  ;  Co.  I,  3d  S.  C.  Cavalry,  ;  Co.  K, 

4th  S.  C.  Cavalry,  Lieutenant  L.  C.  Nowell ;  Co.  K,  6th  S.  C. 
Cavalry,  Captain  M.  J.  Hough ;  Co.  A,  Lucas  Battalion, 
Lieutenant  E.  B.  Calhoun  ;  Co.  F,  Chesnut  Light  Artillery, 

Palmetto  Regiment,  ;  Co.  I,  1st  S.  C.  V.,  (Gregg's  old,) 

Captain  J.  B.  Davis  ;  Earle's  Battery,  Captain  W.  E.  Earle ; 
Commissioned  and  non-Commissioned  Field  and  Staff,  18th 
Regiment,  Lieutenant  Colonel  W.  B.  Allison  ;  Commissioned 
and  non-Commissioned  Field  and  Staff,  20th  Regiment, 
Adjutant  John  Alvilson. 


9 


EXHIBIT  B. 

A  drawing  of  which  Exhibit  C  is  the  description. 
EXHIBIT  C. 

The  object  of  the  Association  being  to  obtain  an  appro- 
priate design  for  a  certificate  of  membership,  the  space  for 
the  certificate  in  the  accompanying  design,  is  in  the  imme- 
diate foreground,  the  accessories  are  all  emblematic  of  the 
"  Lost  Cause."  Immediately  above  the  certificate  stands  the 
broken  arch,  or  architectural  ruin,  demolished  by  a  war  of  the 
elements,  to  be  indicated  by  a  storm  cloud,  past  and  seen  in 
the  distance,  against  whose  darkness  the  right  side  of  the 
ruin  will  stand  out  in  relief;  the  light  striking  across  the 
picture;  and  the  harbor  of  Charleston  from  the  left  displaying 
Morris'  Island  Point,  Sullivan's  Island,  Wagner,  Sumter, 
Moultrie,  &c;  between  the  columns  of  the  arch  stands  a 
palmetto  tree,  denuded  of  its  foliage,  or  nearly  so,  by  the  fall 
of  the  arch,  the  rattle  snake  and  shields  knocked  from 
their  position  on  the  trunk  of  the  tree ;  the  snake,  however, 
clinging  to  the  root  of  the  tree,  with  mouth  closed,  being 
(at  present)  too  weak,  from  the  effect  of  the  fall,  to  show 
fight.  It  need  hardly  be  added  that  the  ruin  is  emblematic 
of  the  Confederacy,  and  the  palmetto,  shields  and  snake  of 
the  State  of  South  Carolina.  On  each  side  of  the  certificate 
is  a  Grecian  shield;  the  one  on  the  right  represents  the  begin- 
ning of  the  war,  the  borders  of  the  circles  are  formed  of 
laurel  leaves,  on  the  surface  of  the  outer  circle  the  order  of  a 
battle  is  represented,  at  the  bottom,  the  videttes  are  being 
driven  in ;  on  the  right,  a  battery  of  artillery  is  going  into 
position  ;  on  the  top,  the  General  commanding  is  bringing  up 
the  infantry  from  the  left,  and  behind  him  a  railroad  train ;  in 
the  centre,  a  Confederate  soldier  is  about  to  part  with  his 
wife  and  child  and  join  his  comrades  in  the  battle. 

The  shield  on  the  left  represents  the  end  of  the  war.  The 
borders  of  the  circles  on  this  shield  to  be  formed  of  cypress. 
The  sides  of  the  outer  circle  to  represent  a  floral  memorial 
celebration  and  a  city  in  ruins — say  Columbia  burning;  in 
the  centre,  a  widow  and  orphan  having  lost  all  but  faith  in 
God,  are  kneeling  at  His  altar,  and  immediately  over  them  is 
Faith,  Hope  and  Charity.  The  shields  are  decorated  with 
battle  flags,  on  which  are  to  be  inscribed  the  battles  which  the 
troops  of  the  District  were  engaged  in. 
2 


10 


The  certificate  and  shields  are  surrounded  with  scroll  work, 
decorated  with  oak  leaves,  entwined  with  cypress,  in  the 
centre  of  which  is  placed  the  seal  of  the  Association,  the 
design  for  which  is  a  woman  with  a  scroll  on  her  knee 
writing  history,  and  on  the  border  the  words,  "  Vindex  Noster 
Sit  Historia,"  "Let  History  be  our  Vindicator."  In  one 
corner  of  the  scroll  work  there  is  a  vidette;  in  the  other,  two 
pickets. 

Captain  DePass  offered  the  following  resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  the  time  of  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
Survivors'  Association  be  changed  to  

On  motion  of  Colonel  Addison,  the  resolution  was  laid  on 
the  table. 

General  J.  B.  Kershaw  introduced  the  following  resolution, 
which  was  ordered  for  consideration  to-morrow  : 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  to  consist  of  one  from  each 
delegation  in  attendance  be  appointed,  to  consider  and  report 
upon  the  expediency  of  some  action  of  this  Association  at 
the  present  meeting,  disavowing  any  knowledge  on  our  part, 
of  the  existence  now  or  at  any  time  heretofore,  of  any 
societies  or  organizations  having  for  their  object  the  unlawful 
deprivation  of  any  class  of  citizens  of  this  State,  of  the  free 
exercise  of  all  the  privileges  to  which  they  are  entitled 
under  the  terms  of  the  recent  amendments  to  the  Federal 
Constitution.  Also,  as  to  the  expediency  of  an  address  to 
the  people  of  this  State,  urging  the  disbandment  of  all 
organizations,  if  any  such  there  be,  of  the  nature  popularly 
known  as  Ku  Klux  Klans,  and  generally  urging  upon  our 
fellow-citizens  a  faithful  observance  of  existing  laws,  and  a 
patient  endurance  of  evils  which  may  not  be  corrected  by 
legislative,  political  or  social  reforms.  Also,  that  said  com- 
mittee report  at  an  adjourned  meeting,  to  be  held  this 
evening. 

Adjourned  to  meet  for  Business  at  Carolina  Hall,  at  10 
A.  M.  to-morrow. 


The  Convention  re-assembled  at  7  P.  M.,  and  proceeded 
to  the  Baptist  Church,  where  the  annual  address  was  to  be 
delivered  by  General  Jubal  A.  Early. 


11 


SECOND  DAY'S  SESSION. 

The  Association  met  at  1 1  A.  M.,  General  Kershaw,  Vice- 
President,  in  the  Chair. 

On  motion  of  General  Conner,  the  following  officers  of 
the  Association  were  re-elected  by  acclamation  : 

President,  General  Wade  Hampton ;  Vice-Presidents,  Gen- 
eral R.  H.  Anderson,  General  J.  B.  Kershaw,  General  S. 
McGowan,  Major  T.  G.  Barker,  General  M.  C.  Butler,  and 
General  Arthur  M.  Manigault ;  Secretary,  Colonel  A.  C. 
Haskell ;  Treasurer,  Captain  W.  K.  Bachman. 

The  Chair  then  announced  the  following  gentlemen  re-ap- 
pointed on  the 'Executive  Board  the  ensuing  year  : 

Executive  Board. — Colonel  Edward  McCrady,  General  Elli- 
son Capers,  General  James  Conner,  Colonel  J.  W.  McCutchen, 
Colonel  W.  H.  Wallace,  Colonel  J.  H.  Rion,  Colonel  C.  Irvine 
Walker. 

The  resolution  offered  yesterday  by  General  Kershaw  then 
came  up  for  consideration,  and  was  adopted. 

Under  the  resolution  the  Chair  appointed  the  following 
committee : 

Chairman,  General  J.  B.  Kershaw,  Kershaw ;  Orangeburg, 
Captain  Davis  Trezevant;  Charleston,  General  James  Conner; 
Chesterfield,  Captain  J.  A.  Wilson ;  Marlboro',  Colonel  J.  W. 
Harrington  ;  Richland,  D.  B.  DeSaussure ;  Sumter,  Colonel 
J.  D.  Blanding;  York,  Colonel  Cad.  Jones;  Newberry,  Thomas 
S.  Moorman ;  Fairfield,  Captain  Samuel  B.  Clowney ;  Edge- 
field, Major  Leroy  F.  Yeomans  ;  Chester,  Captain  Wm.  H. 
Brawley ;  Greenville,  Lieutenant  Perry ;  Lexington,  H.  W. 
Rice ;  Barnwell,  General  Johnson  Hagood  ;  General  Wade 
Hampton,  President. 

The  committee  having  retired,  returned  and  submitted  the 
following  report,  which  was  unanimously  adopted  : 

The  committee  to  whom  were  referred  certain  resolutions 
inquiring  into  the  expediency  of  certain  action  in  regard  to 
the  so-called  Ku-Klux  Klans,  respectfully  report,  that  the 
subject  matter  of  the  resolutions  being  foreign  to  the  objects 
of  this  Association,  which  are  all  expressed  without  qualifi- 
cation or  reservation  in  our  printed  constitutions,  the  com- 


12 


mittee  deem  any  action  of  this  body  on  the  subject  inexpe- 
dient and  improper.  But,  inasmuch  as  it  has  been  charged 
upon  us  that  we  have  participated  in  or  countenanced  the 
organizations  referred  to,  the  committee  recommend  the  re- 
moval of  such  aspersions  by  the  adoption  of  the  following 
resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  at  no  time  has  this  Association  given  coun- 
tenance or  encouragement  to  any  organizations  or  combina- 
tions for  the  purpose  of  violating  the  established  laws  of  the 
land,  or  the  rights  of  any  person  thereunder,  and  hereby  ear- 
nestly and  solemnly  declare  their  disapproval  of  all  such 
organizations,  if  any  there  be,  existing  in  this  State. 
Respectfully  submitted, 

J.  B.  KERSHAW,  Chairman. 

Gen.  Kershaw  then  requested  Maj.  T.  G.  Barker,  Vice- 
President,  to  take  the  Chair,  and  addressed  the  Convention 
on  the  subject  of  education  of  orphans  of  deceased  soldiers, 
who,  if  living,  would  be  entitled  to  be  members  of  the  Asso- 
ciation, and  introduced  the  following  resolution,  which  was 
unanimously  adopted : 

Resolved,  That  a  Committee  of  Five  members  of  this  Asso- 
ciation be  appointed  by  the  Chair,  to  correspond  with  and 
canvass  the  District  Associations,  upon  the  expediency  and 
practicability  of  establishing  a  high  school,  for  the  education 
of  orphans,  sons  of  that  class  of  persons  who,  if  living,  would 
be  entitled  to  membership  of  this  Association,  under  the 
supervision  and  with  the  aid  and  co-operation  of  the  State 
Association,  and  to  report  upon  the  same  at  the  next  meeting, 
accompanying  said  report  with  a  plan  or  plans  of  putting 
said  school  in  operation,  should  the  Association  so  determine. 

General  Conner  presented  the  following  resolution : 

Resolved,  That  a  Committee  of  Three  be  appointed  by  the 
President,  to  communicate  with  the  chairmen  of  delegations 
from  each  District  here  represented,  or  leading  Confederates 
in  Districts  not  represented,  requesting  them  to  render  as- 
sistance to  the  Confederate  Home,  in  Charleston,  by  sending 
one  pupil  (female)  from  each  District  to  the  Home  to  be 
educated — the  entire  expense  for  maintenance,  clothing  and 
education  being  $200 — and  to  canvass  their  Districts  for  that 
purpose  and  communicate  with  this  Committee. 


13 

General  Kershaw  accepted  the  resolution,  to  be  submitted 
together  with  the  first  presented  by  himself. 

Major  Barker  in  the  Chair,  communicated  as  information 
the  suggestion  which  had  been  made,  that  the  funds  being 
raised  by  the  Ladies'  Monumental  Association,  might  be  ap- 
plied to  the  purpose  of  a  school  for  the  sons  of  Confederate 
soldiers  who  had  fallen  in  the  war. 

Both  resolutions  were  adopted  by  unanimous  vote,  and 
the  following  Committee  was  appointed :  General  Kershaw, 
Chairman ;  General  Conner,  Colonel  Haskell,  Colonel  E. 
McCrady,  General  E.  P.  Alexander. 

On  motion  of  General  Kershaw,  Major  T.  G.  Barker  was 
added  to  the  Committee. 

The  following  Committee  was  appointed,  under  the  resolu- 
tion of  General  Conner,  for  the  education  of  daughters :  Cap- 
tain Fairley,  Captain  G.  H.  Moffett,  Colonel  B.  Rutledge. 

The  following  resolution  was  offered  by  Captain  W.  L. 
DePass,  which  was  adopted : 

Resolved,  That  the  Survivors'  Association  have  heard  with 
pleasure  the  suggestion  that  the  moneys  that  are  being 
raised  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  a  suitable  monument  to  the 
Confederate  dead,  should  be  applied  to  the  more  elevated  and 
enduring  purpose  of  educating  the  orphans  of  the  gallant 
men  who  gave  their  lives  for  the  "  Lost  Cause." 

The  following  resolution  by  Captain  Bachman,  was  unani- 
mously adopted : 

Resolved,  That  the  Survivors'  Association  of  the  State  of 
South  Carolina,  respectfully  tender  their  grateful  thanks  to 
General  Jubal  A.  Early,  for  his  able,  instructive  and  valuable 
address,  delivered  yesterday,  and  request  that  he  will  furnish 
a  copy  for  publication  by  the  Association,  as  a  contribution 
to  the  history  and  literature  of  the  cause  which  we  have  so 
much  at  heart,  well  worthy  of  preservation  in  a  prominent 
form. 

Unanimously  adopted. 

On  motion,  the  Association  adjourned. 


ADDRESS 

OF 

General  JUBAL  A.  EARLY. 


Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Survivors'  Asso- 
ciation of  South  Carolina — My  Friends  and  Comrades: 
When  I  accepted  the  invitation,  so  flatteringly  tendered  me 
by  your  Executive  Board,  I  was  not  unmindful  of  the  fearful 
risk  I  incurred,  nor  of  the  grave  responsibility  I  assumed. 
Had  I  consulted  the  dictates  of  prudence,  I  would  have  de- 
clined to  appear,  in  the  capacity  of  a  public  speaker,  before  a 
community  which,  in  by-gone  days,  was  accustomed  to  hang, 
with  rapt  attention,  upon  the  words  of  prophetic  wisdom  and 
burning  eloquence  which  fell  from  the  lips  of  Calhoun,  Hayne, 
McDuffie,  the  two  Prestons,  and  other  gifted  sons  of  South 
Carolina  ;  and,  especially,  would  I  have  avoided  following  so 
soon  in  the  track  of  my  friend  and  predecessor,  General  John 
S.  Preston,  by  whose  finished  and  eloquent  oration  your 
hearts  were  thrilled  and  your  souls  stirred  to  their  inmost 
depths  at  your  last  annual  meeting.  I  have,  however,  ven- 
tured to  rely  on  the  kind  indulgence  of  my  late  comrades  in 
arms,  trusting  that  they  would  overlook  the  absence  of  the 
embellishments  and  graces  of  oratory,  on  account  of  the 
faith  that  is  in  me.  I  must,  therefore,  caution  you  that  you 
are  not  to  expect  from  me  a  brilliant  or  captivating  address, 
but  must  be  contented  with  the  frank,  outspoken  sentiments 
and  unvarnished  language  of  a  fellow-soldier. 

I  will  not,  gentlemen,  before  you,  undertake  to  enter  into  a 
vindication  of  the  rightfulness  of  the  cause  for  which  we 
fought ;  for  that,  I  take  it  for  granted,  is  unnecessary  on  this 
occasion,  and  the  task  has  been  performed  by  far  abler 
tongues  and  pens  than  mine.  As,  however*  the  action  of  our 
respective  States  was  somewhat  divergent  at  the  outset  of  our 
troubles,  it  may  not  be  inappropriate  for  me  to  say  a  few 
words  to  you  on  that  subject. 

You  must  remember  that,  before  the  war  of  the  Revolution 
of  1776,  Virginia,  without  having  any  special  grievances  of 


15 


her  own  to  complain  of  at  the  hands  of  the  British  Govern- 
ment, made  common  cause  with  her  sister  colonies  in  the 
conflict  with  the  mother  country,  then  impending ;  and  when 
that  conflict  was  precipitated,  if  it  was  not  mainly  caused,  by 
the  unwarranted  turbulence  of  the  people  of  Massachusetts, 
and  especially  of  Boston,  she  rushed  to  the  assistance  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, with  men,  money  and  supplies.  She  threw  all  her 
resources  into  the  struggle,  and  the  war,  begun  on  the  soil  of 
Massachusetts,  was,  substantially,  terminated  on  that  of  Vir- 
ginia. As  she  came  out  of  the  Revolution,  Virginia  was  com- 
paratively strong,  and  was  possessed  of  a  territory,  in  her  own 
right,  sufficient  for  a  mighty  empire.  She  was  then  perfectly 
capable  of  taking  care  of  herself.  She  had  declared  her  own 
independence,  and  established  her  separate  sovereign  State 
government,  in  advance  of  the  action  of  the  Colonial  Con- 
gress. But,  one  of  her  sons,  Jefferson,  was  the  author  of  the 
celebrated  declaration  by  the  Congress  ;  and  another.  Wash- 
ington, had  led  the  armies  of  the  confederation  to  victory. 
She  was,  therefore,  very  naturally  inclined  to  foster  and  per- 
petuate the  confederation,  with  the  glories  and  triumphs  of 
which  she  had  been  so  much  identified.  For  the  sake  of 
harmony,  and  to  strengthen  the  bonds  of  union  between  the 
States,  she  surrendered,  without  price,  the  vast  territory  be- 
yond the  Ohio,  now  the  seat  of  five  States,  which  was,  indis- 
putably, hers  by  right.  When  it  was  found  that  the  old  con- 
federation was  liable  to  disintegration,  from  internal  causes, 
she  proposed  the  convention  whose  deliberations  resulted  in 
the  formation  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  That 
Constitution  was  in  a  great  measure  the  work  of  her  own 
statesmen.  It  is  true,  that,  when  it  came  before  her  conven- 
tion, its  ratification  was  obstinately  resisted,  and  the  dangers 
of  an  abuse  of  its  delegated  powers  were  forseen  and  foretold 
by  some  of  her  wisest  and  most  patriotic  sons,  foremost 
among  whom  were  Patrick  Henry  and  George  Mason.  It 
may  not  be  out  of  place  to  remark  here,  that  the  elder 
Lowndes  stood  almost  alone  in  the  South  Carolina  Conven- 
tion in  opposition  to  the  Constitution,  for  the  very  same 
reasons  that  governed  Henry,  Mason  and  their  coadjutors. 
The  struggle  was  long  and  arduous  in  the  Virginia  Conven- 
tion, but  the  Constitution  was  finally  ratified  by  a  majority, 
though  a  small  one.  Her  great  son,  Washington,  was  unani- 
mously elected  the  first  President,  and  under  his  auspices  the 
United  States  took  position  among  the  most  respected  nations 
of  the  world.     In  his  farewell  address,  on  retiring  to  private 


16 


life,  Washington  commended  the  union  of  the  States  to  the 
care  of  his  countrymen,  urging  them  to  cherish  a  cordial, 
habitual  and  immovable  attachment  to  it ;  accustoming  them- 
selves to  think  and  speak  of  it  as  of  the  palladium  of  their 
political  safety  and  prosperity.  Ah!  little  did  he  think,  and 
little  did  the  mass  of  his  countrymen  then  dream,  that  that 
"palladium  "  was  but  another  wooden  horse,  bearing  within 
itself  the  agencies  for  the  destruction  of  the  only  safeguards 
of  the  liberties  of  the  people,  the  sovereign  rights  of  the 
States.  Three  other  most  eminent  sons  of  Virginia  after- 
wards, in  succession,  rilled  the  office  of  President ;  and  the 
principles  for  which  she  ever  contended,  for  many  years,  with 
but  a  brief  interval,  prevailed  in  the  construction  of  the  Con- 
stitution and  the  administration  of  the  Government. 

Is  it  to  be  wondered,  therefore,  that,  following  the  advice  of 
her  great  and  patriotic  son,  she  did  cherish  a  cordial  and 
habitual  attachment  to  the  Union  of  the  States,  and  that  she 
was  slow  to  recognize  the  necessity  for  the  dissolution  of  that 
Union,  of  which  she  regarded  herself  the  chief  architect,  and 
for  which  she  had  made  such  great  sacrifices?  Such  was 
the  case,  gentlemen,  and,  strong  in  her  faith  in  State  sover- 
eignty and  the  ultimate  sense  of  justice  on  the  part  of  the 
people,  it  was  hard  for  Virginia  to  realize  the  fact  that  the 
masses  in  any  portion  of  the  country — of  what  we  were  ac- 
customed to  call  our  common  country — could  be  led  into  a 
deliberate  attempt  to  subvert  the  principles  of  the  Constitu- 
tion, and  destroy  the  rights  of  the  States  and  the  liberties  of 
the  people,  though  a  mischievous  faction,  amid  high  political 
excitement  and  under  strong  party  rule,  had  obtained  posses- 
sion of  the  Government.  Under  the  influence  of  such  con- 
siderations as  I  have  indicated,  Virginia  did  struggle  long  and 
earnestly  to  preserve  the  Union ;  but  the  Union  for  which  she 
struggled  was  one  of  equal  rights,  equal  privileges  and  com- 
mon duties,  in  which  the  States  were  to  be  held  together  by 
mutual  obligations,  and  a  cordial  regard  for  and  strict  observ- 
ance of  the  rights  of  all.  In  her  efforts  in  that  direction,  Vir- 
ginia met  with  no  corresponding  sympathy  from  the  masses 
at  the  North,  or  the  powers  at  Washington.  When,  at  last, 
she  did  realize  the  fact  that  the  Union  she  had  so  fondly  cher- 
ished was  to  be  replaced  by  one  of  force  and  coercion,  she 
shivered  the  idol  of  her  affections,  and  took  her  stand  by  the 
side  of  her  Southern  sisters,  with  the  determination  to  do  bat- 
tle to  the  last  extremity,  for  the  principles  she  had  always 
upheld,  and  which  she  now  perceived  were  involved  in  the 


17 


success  of  the  Confederation  of  seceded  States.  How  she 
bore  herself  in  the  struggle  which  ensued,  it  is  not  necessary 
for  me  to  tell  you — nor  is  it  necessary  to  state  how  Massa- 
chusetts repaid  her  obligations  to  Virginia — nor  how  Virginia 
has  been  compensated  for  her  magnificent  bounty  to  the 
Union — nor  how  the  States  which  were  her  own  daughters 
turned  upon  her  in  the  hour  of  her  trials.  Can  you  say,  gen- 
tlemen, that  the  reluctance  of  Virginia  to  surrender  the  Union 
was  an  unnatural,  an  unreasonable  one  ?  We  can  all  now  see 
how  our  ancestors  erred  in  not  heeding  the  warnings  of  Henry 
and  Mason,  and  Lowndes,  and  how  we  erred  in  not  beginning 
the  struggle  to  regain  our  independence  long  years  before  we 
did ;  but  it  required  sad  experience  to  make  this  apparent  to 
all  of  us — some  saw  it  sooner,  others  later.  None  but  a  Vir- 
ginian can  fully  understand  the  anguish  with  which  the  people 
of  that  State  recognized  the  fact  that  the  Union  of  their  affec- 
tions was  gone  forever.  I  must  say  that  I  fully  sympathized 
with  the  people  of  my  State  in  their  anxiety  to  preserve  the 
Union,  and  in  the  anguish  with  which  they  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  it  must  be  surrendered.  When  I  did  come  to 
that  conclusion,  I  went  into  the  struggle  with  my  whole  heart 
and  soul ;  not  merely  because  I  felt  it  to  be  my  duty  to  follow 
my  State  and  my  section,  but  because,  also,  I  felt  that  the 
cause  for  which  we  were  called  on  to  fight  was  my  cause  as 
well  as  theirs,  and  because  I  believed  it  to  be  right,  just  and 
holy — and  I  then  believed  it  had  been  so  from  the  beginning. 
In  that  faith  I  have  remained  up  to  the  present  time,  in  that 
faith  I  will  live,  and  in  that  faith  I  will  die,  though  might 
did  prevail  over  right  in  the  struggle.  Never,  during  the 
progress  of  the  war,  did  I  upbraid  any  advocate  of  secession 
for  bringing  on  that  war ;  and  now  that  our  cause  has  failed 
of  success,  I  would  feel  that  I  was  unworthy  to  be  called  a 
man,  could  I  be  induced  to  cast  the  responsibility  of  the  war 
on  the  original  advocates  of  secession.  During  its  progress, 
the  only  reproach  I  had  for  any  secessionist,  was  when  I 
found  one  who  was  not  willing  to  fight  for  the  cause  he  had 
advocated ;  and,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  there  were  some  of  that 
character.  Now,  when  I  see  one  who  has  turned  renegade, 
and  affiliated  with  the  enemies  of  his  people,  I  turn  from  him 
as  I  would  from  a  loathsome  reptile. 

Gentlemen  of  South  Carolina,  you  do  not  require,  at  the 
hands  of  any  one,  a  vindication  of  the  course  of  your  State, 
in  inaugurating  steps  for  the  assertion  of  your  right  to  self- 
government.    Our  enemies  and  oppressors  have  furnished  the 


18 


most  full  and  complete  vindication  of  all  you  did,  not  only 
by  the  manner  in  which  they  conducted  the  war,  but  by  their 
course  since  its  close — if  it  be  indeed  closed.  Let  any  one 
look  abroad  over  this  fair  and  once  happy  land,  from  the  Poto- 
mac to  the  Rio  Grande,  and  view  the  desolation  and  mani- 
fold wrongs  which  have  been  heaped  upon  our  people,  and 
ask  his  own  heart  whether  South  Carolina  was  wrong  in  man- 
ifesting her  unwillingness  to  submit  to  the  rule  of  the  malig- 
nant, fanatic  race,  worse  than  barbaric  Goth,  or  Vandal,  or 
Hun,  that  has  proved  itself  capable  of  such  enormities. 

Yes,  my  friends,  our  enemies  are  every  day  writing  their 
own  condemnation,  in  characters  which  cannot  be  mistaken 
and  which  can  never  be  effaced.  Millions  abroad,  and  even 
some  at  the  North,  are  learning,  too  late,  to  believe  and  know 
that  the  right  was  with  us. 

This  much,  I,  a  former  Union  man — then  sometimes  called 
a  submissionist — have  thought  proper  to  say  to  you  on  that 
head,  here,  at  what  is  regarded  as  the  fountain-head  of  seces- 
sion, in  order  that  we  may  understand  each  other,  and  that 
you  may  know  that,  though  we  traveled  by  routes  somewhat 
divergent,  we  arrived  at  the  same  goal  at  last.  I  do  not,  how- 
ever, wish  to  be  understood  as  offering  an  apology  for  the 
course  of  my  native  State.  Her  action  was  dictated  by  the 
purest  and  most  patriotic  motives — was  in  accordance  with 
her  traditional  policy,  and  was,  in  my  opinion,  such  as  became 
her  ancient  fame  and  high  career,  though  it  did  not  succeed. 

In  the  war  of  invasion  and  conquest — with  grim  irony 
called  the  war  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union — which  was 
most  iniquitously  waged  against  us,  the  soldiers  of  South 
Carolina,  along  with  those  of  all  the  Confederate  States,  bore 
themselves  as  became  the  free-born  sons  of  a  free-born  race, 
and  the  cause  to  which  they  had  devoted  their  lives.  It  was 
my  fortune  to  meet  "  in  the  tented  field,"  and  amid  the  din  of 
battle,  many  of  the  soldiers  of  your  State.  Some  I  meet  here 
again,  and  take  by  the  hand  with  a  mournful  pleasure ;  those 
who  fought  on  other  fields,  I  likewise  regard  as  my  comrades 
and  brethren  in  arms,  to  whom  I  feel  bound  by  the  kindred 
ties  of  common  principles,  a  common  struggle,  and  common 
sufferings,  though  we  never  met  before.  But  ah  !  how  many 
of  both  classes  are  absent — "  dead  upon  the  field  of  honor  !" 
Comrades,  in  common  with  many  others,  I  am  very  often 
inclined  to  think  that  those  who  lost  their  lives  in  battle,  fight- 
ing for  our  great  cause,  were  far  more  fortunate  than  the 
survivors,  who  have  lived  to  see  the  destruction  of  all  the  fair 


19 


hopes  which  cheered  their  comrades  in  the  moments  of  a 
glorious  death.  The  reflection  has  often  come  to  my  mind, 
after  a  battle,  when  we  were  receiving  tidings  of  those  who 
had  fallen,  and  some  familiar  name  was  mentioned  among  the 
slain — "  he,  at  least,  has  been  spared  the  humiliation  of  seeing 
his  country  enslaved,  if  that  terrible  calamity  is  to  befall  us !" 

You,  my  friends,  have  done  well  in  forming  this  Associa- 
tion, and  I  trust  to  see  your  example  followed  throughout  all 
the  late  Confederate  States.  We  owe  it  to  our  cause,  to  our 
fallen  comrades,  and  to  ourselves,  to  keep  in  vivid  recollection 
the  principles  for  which  we  fought ;  to  renew  and  strengthen 
the  friendships  and  associations  engendered  by  the  war ;  to 
relieve,  as  far  as  we  can,  the  wants  of  the  families  of  the  fallen 
who  were  left  destitute,  and  to  see  that  the  materials  for  a 
truthful  history  of  our  struggle  are  furnished  and  preserved. 
At  the  time  of  the  meeting  at  Richmond,  last  Fall,  for  erecting 
a  monument  to  General  Lee,  there  was  a  large  concourse  of 
officers  and  soldiers  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  from 
Virginia  and  elsewhere,  and  an  "  Association  of  the  Army  of 
Northern  Virginia  "  was  formed.  This  Association  is  intended 
to  embrace  all  those  who  served  honorably  in  that  army  at 
any  time,  whether  before  or  after  it  bore  that  distinctive 
appellation,  and  who  have  not,  by  their  conduct  since  the  war, 
forfeited  all  claim  to  an  honorable  association  with  their 
former  comrades.  The  plan  is,  to  have  divisions  in  all  the 
States  from  which  any  part  of  that  army  came,  which  will 
include  all  the  Confederate  States  and  Maryland.  A  Vice- 
President  and  two  assistants  were  appointed  for  each  State, 
and  I  trust  that  you  will  co-operate  in  this  movement.  I 
hope,  also,  to  see  associations  formed  of  all  the  other  armies, 
and  that  there  may  be  a  general  association  of  the  whole,  to 
include  the  survivors  of  our  gallant  little  navy.  This  will  be 
the  means  of  bringing  together,  in  one  grand  Confederate 
Association,  all  those  who .  fought  and  suffered  for  the  same 
cause,  whether  by  sea  or  by  land.  The  ends  to  be  accom- 
plished by  these  associations  will  be  two-fold  :  First,  to  bring 
into  harmonious  intercourse  the  defenders  of  our  cause  from 
all  parts  of  the  country ;  and,  second,  to  secure  the  materials 
for  a  history  of  the  whole  struggle,  without  the  risk  of  its 
being  disfigured  by  jealous  bickerings  or  discordant  views. 

It  is  necessary,  my  friends,  that  we  should  take  charge  of 
the  history  of  the  war  on  our  side — we  who  have  a  greater 
interest  in  it  than  all  others  living.  On  the  one  side,  our 
enemies  are  laboring  to  falsify  and  pervert  that  history,  with 


20 


the  view  of  casting  odium  on  our  people  and  damning  our 
cause  in  the  estimation  of  the  world  and  posterity.  On  the 
other  side,  some  mere  literary  tyros  and  adventurers,  who  not 
only 

"  Never  set  a  squadron  in  the  field, 
Nor  the  divisions  of  a  battle  know," 

but  never  heard  the  whistling  of  a  bullet  or  the  explosion  of 
a  shell,  unless  when  safely  ensconced  in  some  bombproof 
or  behind  an  exemption,  have  taken  possession  of  the  theme, 
as  a  popular  one,  for  the  purpose  of  making  money  out  of  the 
operation ;  and  the  consequence  has  been  that  there  are 
"Southern  Histories  of  the  War"  and  "Lives  of  General 
Lee,"  in  abundance — each  one  of  which  is  the  "  only  authen- 
tic one,"  and  has  the  "sanction  of  all  the  leading  Confederate 
Generals  " — that  is,  in  the  title  pages — I  have  seen  one  which 
has  tried  two,  if  not  three,  title  pages.  From  this  latter  class 
of  historians  and  biographers  we  are  in  more  danger  than 
from  our  enemies.  In  their  anxiety  to  blacken  the  character 
of  our  soldiers  and  people  and  magnify  that  of  theirs,  our 
enemies  very  often  over-reach  themselves,  and  tell  such  mon- 
strously absurd  and  improbable  stories,  that  no  one  of  common 
discernment  will  believe  them ;  whereas,  in  the  absence  of  the 
genuine  coin,  the  spurious  issue  of  the  pseudo  historians  and 
biographers  of  the  South  passes  current,  especially  among 
foreigners  ;  and  even  some  of  our  own  people  are  taken  in  by 
it.  We  must  weed  out  all  this  trash,  and  it  can  be  done  only 
by  concert  and  united  action. 

Many  of  the  efforts  of  our  enemies  to  falsify  the  truth  of 
history,  as  they  appear  in  their  official  reports,  their  histories, 
and  the  very  voluminous  reports  of  the  Committee  on  the  con- 
duct of  the  war,  with  the  accompanying  testimony,  are  very 
amusing  ;  and  in  their  attempts  to  avoid  the  disgrace  of  the 
numerous  defeats  of  their  armies,  Federal  commanders  have, 
unwittingly,  paid  the  very  highest  possible  compliments  to  the 
valor  of  our  men.  There  was  scarce  a  battle  in  Virginia,  or  the 
West,  or  the  South-west,  in  which,  according  to  their  showing, 
they  did  not  have  to  encounter  overwhelming  numbers.  When 
the  future  student  of  history  comes  to  examine  the  documents 
which  our  enemies  have  prepared  for  the  purpose  of  mislead- 
ing him,  and  sees  that  nearly  everywhere  the  Confederate 
Government,  with  a  population  of  only  5,000,000  of  whites  to 
draw  from,  could  almost  always  put  into  the  field  overwhelm- 
ing numbers,  against  the  Government  at  Washington,  which 


21 


had  a  population  of  about  22,000,000  to  draw  from,  he  must 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Southern  people  were  nearly 
all  men,  and  the  Northerners  nearly  all  women,  or  that  their 
men  were  of  a  very  inferior  order  of  non-combatants ;  and 
he  will  doubtless  arrive  at  the  further  conclusion — which, 
for  other  reasons,  would  not  be  an  unwarranted  one — that 
had  it  not  been  for  the  Germans,  Irish,  Canadians  and 
negroes  which  the  North  enlisted  in  its  armies,  it  would  have 
fared  but  badly-  in  the  contest. 

To  illustrate  the  characteristic  distinctions  between  the  Con- 
federate and  Northern  officers  and  soldiers,  as  well  as  to  show 
how  Northern  commanders  attempted  to  account  for  their 
reverses,  I  will  call  your  attention  to  some  of  the  operations 
of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  in  connection  with  the 
statements  of  our  opponents ;  and  I  trust  I  will  not  weary  you 
by  so  doing.  I  confine  myself  to  that  army,  because  I  was 
familiar  with  its  operations,  and  not  with  those  of  the  other 
armies.  During  the  fall  of  1861  and  winter  of  1 861-2,  Gene- 
ral Johnston's  army,  on  the  line  of  Bull  Run,  was  always 
under  50,000,  and  during  a  part  of  the  time  under  40,000.  At 
the  close  of  February,  1862,  his  whole  command,  including 
the  troops  in  the  Valley,  at  Leesburg,  and  on  the  Potomac 
below,  amounted  to  47,617  for  duty.  McClellan,  in  his  report, 
dated  the  4th  of  August,  1863,  gives  General  Johnston's  force 
as  follows: 

"  Manassas,  Centreville,  Bull  Run,  Upper  Occoquan  and 
vicinity,  80,000;  at  Brooks'  Station,  Dumfries,  Lower  Occo- 
quan and  vicinity,  18,000;  at  Leesburg  and  vicinity,  4,500 ; 
in  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  13,000 — total  115,000;  about  300 
field  pieces  and  from  26  to  30  siege  guns." 

He  gives  his  own  strength  as  follows  : 

"  15th  October,  1861,  133,201  for  duty ;  *  *  *  *  *  * 
1st  February,  1862,  190,806;  1st  March,  1862,  193,142." 

These  figures  included  some  troops  in  Maryland  and 
Delaware,  but  the  great  bulk  was  on  the  Potomac,  and  all  the 
remainder  in  easy  call.  General  Johnston  evacuated  Manas- 
sas on  the  8th  of  March.  McClellan,  in  two  or  three  days, 
marched  up  and  captured  some  Quaker  guns  and  the  empty 
breastworks ;  and  then  moved  by  water  to  the  Peninsula, 
where  the  bulk  of  his  army,  after  leaving  40,000  or  50,000 
men  for  the  defence  of  Washington,  landed  in  the  first  part  of 
April.  Magruder  then  had  about  7,000  men,  with  whom  he 
fell  back  to  Yorktown  and  the  line  of  Warwick  River. 
McClellan  moved  up  to  the  front  of  this  position,  and  com- 


22 


menced  a  siege  by  gradual  approaches,  on  a  line  from  twelve 
to  fifteen  miles  in  length,  held  by  Magruder's  small  force. 

That  force  was  soon  increased  to  12,000,  by  some  rein- 
forcements from  the  South  side  of  James  River.  On  the  7th 
of  April,  McClellan  states  that  he  had  85,000  effective  men, 
and  in  a  letter  of  that  date,  contained  in  his  report,  he  says  : 
"  All  the  prisoners  state  that  General  J.  E.  Johnston  arrived 
at  Yorktown,  yesterday,  with  strong  re-inforcements.  It 
seems  clear  that  I '  shall  have  the  whole  force  of  the  enemy 
on  my  hands — probably  not  less  than  100,000  men,  probably 
more." 

All  the  force  then  confronting  him  on  that  long  line  con- 
sisted of  Magruder's  12,000  men.  My  division,  the  first  from 
Johnston's  army,  arrived  on  the  8th  and  9th,  and  was  8,000 
strong.  Some  two  weeks-  afterward,  two  other  divisions  of 
Johnston's  army  arrived,  as  also  the  troops  which  had  been  at 
Leesburg,  and  Fredricksburg.  The  whole  force,  including 
Magruder's,  did  not  then  reach  50,000.  You  must  know  that 
there  were  constant  skirmishing  and  artillery  firing  between 
the  two  forces,  from  the  beginning,  and  that  before  the  arrival 
of  the  main  body  of  Johnston's  army  McClellan  made  one 
or  two  assaults  on  parts  of  the  line — yet  that  little  force 
stood  there,  defiantly,  in  front  of  his  large  army,  which  had 
very  soon  increased  to  over  100,000.  General  Johnston 
evacuated  this  line,  the  battles  of  Williamsburg  and  Seven 
Pines  occurred,  and  he  was  wounded  at  the  latter.  General 
Lee  was  then  assigned  to  the  command  of  the  army,  which 
was  given  the  name  of  the  "Army  of  Northern  Virginia," 
afterwards  rendered  so  famous. 

McClellan's  army,  according  to  his  report,  amounted,  on  the 
20th  of  June,  1862,  to  105,825  officers  and  men  for  duty,  and 
he  had  a  very  large  train  of  siege  and  field  guns.  When  Gen- 
eral Lee  took  command  of  the  army,  he  found  the  Confede- 
rate capital  beleaguered,  and  the  enemy's  large  army  in  sight 
of  the  spires  of  the  city.  His  whole  force  was  very  little 
over  half  that  of  McClellan ;  yet  he  determined  to  raise  the 
siege  by  one  of  those  bold  strategic  movements,  which  have 
rendered  him  so  renowned.  When  all  his  plans  were  matured, 
he  sent  an  order  to  Jackson  to  move  rapidly  from  the  Valley; 
and  on  the  26th  of  June,  began  that  series  of  battles,  which 
so  much  expedited  McClellan's  celebrated  "change  of  base," 
and  sent  his  shattered  columns  cowering  to  the  shelter  of  the 
gun-boats  on  the  lower  James.  General  Lee's  whole  force  at 
that  time,  including    Jackson's,   Magruder's,  Huger's  and 


23 


Holmes' — in  fact,  the  whole  force  in  and  around  Richmond, 
did  not  exceed  80,000  effective  men,  if  it  reached  that  figure ; 
and  this  was  the  largest  army  he  ever  commanded. 
McClellan's  force,  on  the  20th  of  June,  was  105,825  for  duty, 
by  his  own  statement;  yet  in  his  letters,  before  the  battle,  he 
states  that  he  was  largely  outnumbered,  and  in  one  letter  he 
puts  our  force  at  200,000  men.  Here  is  what  he  says  in  his 
report  of  the  4th  of  August,  1863  : 

"The  report  of  the  'secret  service  corps,'  herewith  for- 
warded, and  dated  the  26th  of  June,  [1862,]  shows  the  esti- 
mated strength  of  the  enemy,  at  the  time  of  the  evacuation  of 
Yorktown,  to  have  been  from  100,000  to  120,000.  The  same 
report  puts  his  numbers,  on  the  26th  of  June,  [1862,]  at  about 
180,000,  and  the  specific  information  obtained  regarding  their 
organization  warrants  the  belief  that  this  estimate  did  not 
exceed  his  actual  strength." 

We  have  all  heard  a  good  deal  about  spies  in  Richmond 
during  the  war.  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  there  were  some 
people  very  much  humbugged  by  that  secret  service  corps ; 
and  McClellan's  statement  is  a  complete  vindication  of  all 
who  were  in  the  departments  at  that  time. 

After  McClellan  had  established  himself  on  his  new  "  base," 
he  began  to  be  again  haunted  with  the  idea  of  vastly  superior 
numbers  opposed  to  him,  and  he  begged  earnestly  for  rein- 
forcements. Halleck,  the  Commander-in-Chief  at  Washing- 
ton, made  a  visit  to  him  about  this  time,  and  after  his  return, 
in  a  letter  to  him,  dated  the  6th  of  August,  1862,  given  in 
McClellan's  report',  Halleck  says  : 

"  You  and  your  officers,  at  our  interview,  estimated  the 
enemy's  forces  in  and  around  Richmond  at  200,000  men. 
Since  then  you  and  others  report  that  they  have  received  and 
are  receiving  large  re-inforcements  from  the  South.  General 
Pope's  army,  covering  Washington,  is  only  about  40,000. 
Your  effective  force  is  only  about  90,000." 

At  that  time  a  new  commander  had  appeared  in  Virginia, 
north  of  the  Rapidan,  in  the  person  of  Major-General  John 
Pope,  noted  for  his  veracious  proclivities,  and  his  utter  con- 
tempt for  "  rebel  "  soldiers,  of  whom  he  had  never  seen  any- 
thing but  their  backs.  With  "  headquarters  in  the  saddle," 
and  an  entire  disregard  for  advantage  of  position  and  lines  of 
retreat,  which  latter  he  left  to  take  care  of  themselves,  he 
only  wanted  to  find  out  where  the  "  rebels  "  were,  so  that  he 
might  go  at  them  incontinently,  and  he  came  "  conquering 
and  to  conquer."    With  three  divisions,   Jackson  quietly 


24 


moved  up  to  Gordonsvillc.  The  first  effect  of  Pope's  appear- 
ance was  terrific.  To  say  nothing  of  the  onslaught  on  the 
pigs,  poultry  and  dairies  of  the  country,  there  was  great  con- 
sternation and  dismay  at  Richmond,  according  to  the  follow- 
ing despatch,  sent  by  Halleck  to  McClellan,  on  31st  July. 
Halleck  says : 

'"  General  Pope  again  telegraphs  that  the  enemy  is  reported 
to  be  evacuating  Richmond,  and  falling  back  on  Danville  and 
Lynchburg." 

This  was  while  McClellan  was  trembling  at  Harrison's 
Landing  at  the  dread  phantom  of  200,000  men  at  Richmond, 
with  more  arriving  from  Beauregard  and  Bragg,  which 
haunted  his  imagination.  Jackson  soon  began  to  show  Pope 
some  things  he  had  never  looked  upon  before.  The  battle  of 
Cedar  Run,  or  Slaughter's  Mountain,  occurred  on  the  9th  of 
August,  and  Pope  began  to  see  some  remarkable  sights.  The 
evacuation  of  the  "  new  base  "  at  Harrison's  Landing,  which 
McClellan  had  assumed  with  so  much  ability,  was  hastened. 

In  a  despatch  from  McClellan  to  Halleck,  dated  the  14th  of 
August,  there  occurs  this  notable  passage: 

"I  don't  like  Jackson's  movements;  he  will  suddenly 
appear  when  least  expected." 

It  was  a  way  General  Jackson  had,  of  disturbing  people 
with  his  eccentricities. 

General  Lee  now  turned  his  attention  to  the  doughty 
commander,  whose  headquarters  were  in  the  saddle,  and 
to  whose  aid  McClellan  was  hastening  his  army.  Stuart 
commenced  his  pranks  around  Pope's  headquarters ;  and 
while  the  latter,  on  the  line  of  the  Rappahannock,  was 
steadily  looking  to  the  front  for  the  "  rebels,"  in  utter  oblivion 
of  any  possible  line  of  retreat,  Jackson  suddenly  appeared  in 
his  rear  on  that  line,  thus  calling  his  attention  to  it ;  and  then 
ensued  that  succession  of  engagements  known  as  "Second 
Manassas." 

Any  of  the  survivors  of  Gregg's  brigade,  who  may  be  here, 
may,  perhaps,  be  interested  and  entertained  by  the  following 
extracts  from  Pope's  report.    He  says : 

"Sigel  attacked  the  enemy  about  daylight  on  the  morning 
on  the  29th,  a  mile  or  two  east  of  Groveton,  where  he  was 
soon  joined  by  the  divisions  of  Hooker  and  Kearney.  Jack- 
son fell  back  several  miles,  but  was  so  closely  pressed  by 
these  forces  that  he  was  compelled  to  make  a  stand,  and  to 
make  the  best  defence  possible." 

And  after  mentioning  an  order  to  Porter  to  cut  off  Jack- 
son's retreat,  he  says : 


25 


"About  half-past  5  o'clock,  [P.  M.  same  day,]  when  General 
Porter  should  have  been  coming  into  action,  in  compliance 
with  this  order,  I  directed  Generals  Heintzelman  and  Reno  to 
attack  the  enemy.  The  attack  was  made  with  great  gal- 
lantry, and  the  whole  of  the  left  of  the  enemy  was  doubled  back 
towards  his  centre,  and  our  own  forces,  after  a  sharp  conflict  of 
an  hour  and  a  half,  occupied  the  field  of  battle,  with  the  dead 
of  the  enemy  in  our  hands.  In  this  attack,  Grover's  brigade 
of  Hooker's  division  was  particularly  distinguished  by  a 
determined  bayone*t  charge,  breaking  two  of  the  enemy's 
lines,  and  penetrating  to  the  third  before  it  could  be  checked." 

General  Jackson,  after  breaking  the  railroad,  and  destroy- 
ing the  immense  stores  at  Manassas,  which  could  not  be 
removed,  had  moved  to  the  old  battle-field  of  Manassas, 
to  await  the  arrival  of  General  Lee  with  Longstreet's  force. 
Early  on  the  morning  of  the  29th  of  August,  he  had  taken  posi- 
tion on  the  old  unused  railroad  grade  near  that  field,  and  there, 
with  his  three  divisions,  of  less  than  20,000  men,  he  had  re- 
ceived and  repulsed  Pope's  successive  attacks.  The  last  attack 
was  made  on  a  part  of  the  line  held  by  Gregg's  and  Thomas' 
Brigades.  These  two  Brigades,  after  a  gallant  resistance,  and 
when  their  ammunition  was  exhausted,  retired  a  very  short 
distance  to  the  rear,  and  were  awaiting  the  advance  of  the 
enemy,  determined  to  resist  with  the  bayonet.  My  Brigade 
then  advanced  past  them,  drove  the  enemy  back  and  regained 
the  position  on  the  railroad  cut  which  the  enemy  had  occu- 
pied. This  was  the  last  attack  on  Jackson's  line  that  day, 
and  is,  I  presume,  the  one  so  glowingly  described  by  Pope. 
At  the  close  of  the  day  we  held  our  whole  line  intact,  with 
all  our  dead  and  wounded  in  our  hands — as  they  had  re- 
mained all  the  time.  Those  brilliant  and  determined  bayonet 
charges,  so  often  mentioned  by  Federal  commanders,  were 
like  the  play  of  Hamlet,  with  the  part  of  Hamlet  left  out. 
No  one  ever  saw  or  felt  the  bayonets,  unless  some  poor 
wounded  soldier  lying  helpless  on  the  field.  All  the  fighting 
on  our  side,  on  the  29th,  was  done  by  Jackson's  command, 
except  an  affair  about  dusk,  between  King's  Division,  of 
McDowell's  corps,  and  the  advance  of  Longstreet's  command, 
which  began  to  arrive  between  11  A.  M.  and  12  M.  in  the 
day,  but  did  not  engage  in  the  battle  until  King  made  his 
advance,  under  the  idea  that  Jackson  was  retreating ;  which 
was  a  very  great  delusion. 

In  a  despatch  dated  5.30  A.  M.,  the  30th,  Pope  says  :  "  We 
have  lost  not  less  than  8,000  men  killed  and  wounded ;  but, 
3 


26 


from  the  appearance  of  the  field,  the  enemy  lost  at  least  two 
to  one.  He  stood  strictly  on  the  defensive,  and  every  assault 
was  made  by  ourselves.  The  battle  was  fought  on  the  identi- 
cal battle-field  of  Bull  Run,  which  greatly  increased  the  en- 
thusiasm of  the  men.  The  news  just  reaches  me  from  the 
front  that  the  enemy  is  retiring  toward  the  mountains.  I 
go  forward  at  once  to  see.  We  have  made  great  captures, 
but  I  am  not  able  as  yet  to  form  an  idea  of  their  extent." 

During  the  morning  and  forenoon,  attacks  were  again  made 
on  Jackson's  line,  but  Longstreet  did  not  come  into  action 
until  the  afternoon  ;  when,  by  the  combined  attack,  Pope's 
army  was  driven  from  the  field  and  across  Bull  Run,  with 
terrible  slaughter. 

Pope  says,  in  his  report : 

"  Every  indication,  during  the  night  of  the  29th,  and  up  to 
10  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  30th,  pointed  to  the  retreat 
of  the  enemy  from  our  front." 

Further  on,  in  the  same  report,  he  says  : 

"  During  the  whole  night  of  the  29th,  and  the  morning  of 
the  30th,  the  advance  of  the  main  army,  under  Lee,  was  ar- 
riving on  the  field  to  reinforce  Jackson,  so  that  by  12  or  I 
o'clock  in  the  day  we  were  confronted  by  forces  greatly  supe- 
rior to  our  own ;  and  these  forces  were  being  every  moment 
largely  increased  by  fresh  arrivals  of  the  enemy  in  the  direc- 
tion of  Thoroughfare  Gap." 

General  Lee's  whole  army,  at  second  Manassas,  did  not 
amount  to  50,000  men.  It  was  composed  of  part  of  the  army 
which  had  been  at  Richmond  during  the  seven  days,  and  at 
least  two  Divisions,  D.  H.  Hill's  and  McLaw's  had  not  ar- 
rived— they  had  been  left  behind  to  protect  Richmond  until 
the  whole  of  McClellan's  army  got  off.  Pope's  army  had 
been  largely  reinforced  from  McClellan's,  nearly  the  whole  of 
which  had  landed  at  Aquia  Creek  and  Alexandria,  and  by  a 
part  of  the  troops  of  Burnside's  corps,  lately  from  North 
Carolina,  under  Reno,  8,000  strong. 

At  9.45  P.  M.,  on  the  30th,  Pope  telegraphed  to  Halleck : 

"  The  battle  was  most  furious  for  hours  without  cessation, 
and  the  losses  on  both  sides  were  heavy.  The  enemy  is 
badly  whipped,  and  we  shall  do  well  enough.  Do  not  be 
uneasy.    We  shall  hold  our  own  here." 

To  this  Halleck  replied: 

"  You  have  done  nobly.  Don't  yield  another  inch,  if  you 
can  avoid  it.    All  reserves  are  being  sent  forward." 

Yet,  after  all  of  McClellan's  troops  but  one  division  had 


27 


arrived  to  his  aid,  and  before  another  gun  had  been  fired, 
Pope  telegraphed  to  Halleck,  from  Centreville,  at  10.45  A. 
M.,  31st: 

M  I  should  like  to  know  whether  you  feel  secure  about 
Washington,  should  this  army  be  destroyed.  I  shall  fight  it 
as  long  as  a  man  will  stand  up  to  the  work." 

Pope's  whole  army  was  soon  hurled  into  the  fortifications 
around  Washington,  by  the  army  which  had  been  so  badly 
whipped  on  the  30th,  and  Major-General  John  Pope  disap- 
peared from  the  scene  of  action,  in  some  respects  a  wiser  if 
not  a  better  man.  He  was  sent  off  to  the  far  West  to  fight 
the  red  men  of  the  plains,  and  we  heard  no  more  of  him 
during  the  war.  Pope's  original  force  of  40,000,  Reno's  8,000, 
and  McClellan's  90,000,  made  138,000  men,  whom  General 
Lee's  army  of  less  than  50,000  had  to  deal  with  on  this  occa- 
sion. All  of  McClellan's  force  was  not  up  at  the  battle  of 
30th,  but  all  of  it  except  one  division  was  up  by  the  battle  of 
the  1st  of  September,  at  Ox  Hill  or  Chantilly.  Yet  this  was 
another  case  of  superior  numbers  on  our  side. 

The  crossing  of  the  Potomac  now  followed,  and  then  the 
capture  of  Harper's  Ferry  and  the  battles  of  South  Moun- 
tain and  Sharpsburg. 

When  the  battle  began  at  Sharpsburg,  early  on  the  morning 
of  the  17th  of  September,  General  Lee's  whole  infantry  force 
on  the  field  did  not  exceed  15,000.  A.  P.  Hill's  division  of 
Jackson's  corps,  Anderson's  division,  with  one  or  two  extra 
brigades  temporarily  attached  to  it,  and  McLaw's  division,  all 
of  which  had  participated  in  the  attack  on  Harper's  Ferry, 
had  not  come  up,  With  all  that  came  up  during  the  day, 
our  infantry  force  did  not  exceed  23,000  men.  Our  cavalry 
was  not  engaged,  and  a  large  portion  of  our  artillery  had  not 
crossed  the  river  from  Harper's  Ferry  ;  and  did  not  cross  until 
at  night  when  the  battle  was  over.  Our  whole  force,  of  all 
arms,  when  the  whole  was  up,  did  not  exceed  30,000. 

McClellan's  army,  according  to  his  statement,  numbered 
87,164  in  action.  Yet  we  fought  him  from  day -break  until 
late  in  the  afternoon,  and,  at  the  close  of  the  day,  we  held 
our  position.  We  continued  to  hold  it  the  whole  of  the  next 
day,  and  McClellan  did  not  dare  to  attack  us. 

In  his  report,  he  gives  this  remarkable  estimate  of  General 
Lee's  army.    I  read  his  language : 

"  An  estimate  of  the  forces  under  the  Confederate  General 
Lee,  made  up  by  direction  of  General  Banks,  from  informa- 
tion obtained  by  the  examination  of  prisoners,  deserters,  spies, 


28 


etc.,  previous  to  the  battle  of  Antietam,  is  as  follows :  Gen. 
T.  J.  Jackson's  corps,  24,778 ;  Gen.  James  Longstreet's  corps, 
23,342;  Gen.  D.  H.  Hill's  second  division,  15,525  ;  Gen  J.  E.  B. 
Stewarts  cavalry,  6,400 ;  Gen.  Ransom's  and  Jenkins'  brigades, 
3,000;  forty-six  regiments  not  included  in  above,  18,400; 
artillery  estimated  at  400  guns,  6,000;  total,  97,445.  These 
estimates  give  the  actual  number  of  men  present  and  fit  for 
duty." 

You  must  recollect  that  McClellan  was  considered  the  gen- 
tleman among  the  Federal  or  Union  commanders — and  this 
is  his  statement  of  the  force  opposed  to  him  at  Sharpsburg. 
There  was  a  rumor  that  Banks  was  Jackson's  commissary, 
and  I  suppose  McClellan  thought  the  commissary  ought  to 
know  the  strength  of  the  corps  at  least.  Banks,  however, 
was  not  with  McClellan  at  Sharpsburg,  and  this  estimate  of  his, 
I  presume,  was  made  while  Jackson  was  operating  in  Pope's 
rear,  and  Banks  was  one  of  the  corps  commanders  of  the 
latter.  Some  allowance,  therefore,  must  be  made  for  him,  as 
he  always  saw  with  very  large  magnifying  glasses  when 
"  Stonewall  Jackson"  was  about. 

There  are  some  curious  reflections  that  suggest  them- 
selves in  connection  with  McClellan's  statement  of  his 
own  forces.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the  troops  under 
McClellan's  command  on  the  Potomac  and  in  Maryland  and 
Delaware  on  the  1st  of  March,  1862,  numbered  over  193,000 
for  duty;  The  Ninth  Corps,  (Burnside's,)  numbering  over 
13,000  at  Sharpsburg,  had  been  brought  from  North  and 
South  Carolina;  Fremont's  command  from  North-western 
Virginia,  and  some  troops  under  Sigel  from  Missouri,  had 
also  arrived  since  the  first  March;  and  very  recently  some 
troops  had  come  from  Western  Virginia,  under  Cox,  besides 
the  recruits  from  new  levies  that  had  been  received.  What  had 
reduced  that  immense  force  to  87,164  men,  on  the  17th  Sep- 
tember, 1862  ?  How  was  it  that  the  weak  "  rebel"  government 
at  Richmond  had  been  able  to  invade  the  enemy's  country 
with  an  army  of  over  97,000  men,  while  the  strong,  "patriotic" 
government  at  Washington  had  been  able  to  rally,  from  all 
the  "  loyal "  North  and  North-west,  to  preserve  "the  best 
government  the  world  ever  saw,"  to  defend  the  national  cap- 
ital, and  to  protect  the  "loyal"  States  against  the  "  rebel" 
hordes  by  which  they  were  threatened,  only  a  little  over 
87,000  men?    This  is  a  little  curious,  is  it  not? 

You  may  think  it  a  little  strange  that  Gen.  Lee  had  less 
than  30,000  men  at  Sharpsburg.    The  whole  force  for  duty 


29 


in  the  Department  of  Northern  Virginia,  at  the  close  of  July, 
1862,  was  69,559,  as  shown  by  the  official  reports  now  on  file 
in  the  Archive  Office  at  Washington.  I  copy  from  a  state- 
ment from  the  reports  given  by  a  Northern  writer — all  Con- 
federates being  denied  access  to  them.  Some  troops  had  to  be 
left  at  Richmond,  at  Drewry's  and  Chafifin's  Bluffs,  and  at  other 
points — and  our  army  had  not  been  reinforced  to  any  material 
extent.  60,000  men,  inclusive  of  D.  H.  Hill's  and  McLaw's 
divisions,  were  the  utmost  that  could  be  carried  into  the  field. 
There  had  been  the  battle  of  Cedar  Run,  the  fighting  on  the 
Rapidan,  the  series  of  battles  at  Second  Manassas,  Ox  Hill, 
Harper's  Ferry  and  South  Mountain — all  without  any  rein- 
forcements. Of  course  considerable  losses  had  been  sustained 
in  all  these  battles  ;  but,  in  addition  to  that,  there  was  a  heavy 
falling  off  from  straggling  caused  by  utter  exhaustion. 

Our  army  had  been  marching  and  fighting  almost  continu- 
ally since  the  battle  of  Cedar  Run.  The  men  were  badly 
clothed  and  worse  shod — our  rations  had  given  out  at  second 
Manassas — in  fact  some  of  the  troops  in  Longstreet's  corps 
came  to  that  battle  without  rations.  From  that  time  until  we 
got  into  Maryland,  our  men  had  to  live  principally  on  fresh 
beef  and  green  corn,  without  salt  or  bread.  That  diet  is  bet- 
ter than  none,  by  a  good  deal,  but  it  is  a  very  weakening  one 
to  march  and  fight  on — as  some  of  you,  perhaps,  know.  The 
consequence  of  all  this  was,  that  before  we  crossed  the  Poto- 
mac, many  of  our  men  had  entirely  broken  down  from  ex- 
haustion and  sore  feet,  while  many  had  straggled  off  for  food. 
The  loss  from  these  causes  was  very  heavy,  and  you  can 
understand  how  less  than  60,000  men  could  very  easily  be 
reduced  to  less  than  30,000,  in  a  campaign  of  six  weeks,  in 
which  many  bloody  battles  had  been  fought  against  very 
large  odds.  To  show  that  I  am  not  out  of  the  way  in  my 
estimate,  I  will  state  that  the  same  reports  from  which  I  have 
quoted,  show  only  52,609  men  for  duty  in  the  whole  depart- 
ment of  Northern  Virginia  at  the  close  of  September,  after 
the  stragglers  had  all  come  up  and  many  convalescents  had 
returned  to  duty.  You  must  recollect  that  the  troops  under 
McClellan  and  Pope  numbered  on  the  6th  of  August,  1862, 
according  to  Halleck's  statement,  130,000  for  duty;  that 
Burnside  had  brought  over  13,000;  that  Cox's  division  had 
come  from  Western  Virginia  since  that  time,  and,  besides, 
there  were  the  recruits  and  reinforcements  received  at  Wash- 
ington. If  all  that  force  had  been  reduced  to  87,164,  when 
it  was  so  well  clothed,  shod  and  fed,  it  was  not  unreasona- 


30 


ble  that  there  should  be  a  falling  off  of  30,000  in  General 
Lee's  army,  from  the  casualties  of  battle  and  the  other 
causes  mentioned.  General  Lee,  in  his  report,  said  his 
strength  was  under  40,000,  but,  for  obvious  reasons,  he  never 
disclosed  his  weakness  at  any  time.  Notwithstanding  its 
smallness,  our  little  army  accomplished  wonders  at  Sharps- 
burg.  McClellan,  in  giving  the  reasons  why  he  was  not  able 
to  renew  the  battle  on  the  1 8th,  in  his  report  says  : 

"  One  division  of  Sumner's  corps,  and  all  of  Hooker's 
corps,  on  the  right,  had,  after  fighting  most  valiantly  for 
several  hours,  been  overpowered  by  numbers,  driven  in  great 
disorder  and  much  scattered,  so  that  they  were,  for  the  time, 
somewhat  demoralized." 

To  show  how  they  were  overpowered  by  numbers,  let  me 
tell  you  that,  in  the  morning,  Hooker's  corps,  of  14,856 
strong,  had  attacked  the  position  held  by  Jackson's  command 
on  the  field,  then  4,000  strong,  and  D.  H.  Hill's  division  of 
3,000 — in  all  7,000  men.  Mansfield's  corps,  then  10,126 
strong,  came  to  the  assistance  of  Hooker ;  and  then  Hood's 
two  brigades,  of  less  than  1,500,  and,  later,  my  brigade, 
of  less  than  1,000,  were  brought  into  action.  Sumner's 
corps.  18,813  strong,  and  Franklin's  corps,  12,300  strong, 
were,  about  the  same  time,  brought  to  the  assistance  of 
Hooker's  and  Mansfield's  corps ;  and  McLaw's  and  Ander- 
son's divisions,  which  had  arrived  from  Harper's  Ferry,  to- 
gether with  two  brigades  under  J.  G.  Walker,  went  to  the 
aid  of  our  troops  engaged  with  those  four  corps.  Thus  less 
than  18,000  Confederates,  with  all  that  were  brought  up,  from 
first  to  last,  encountered,  on  that  part  of  the  field  56,095  of 
the  enemy.  I  give  this  statement  as  to  the  enemy's  force  en- 
gaged on  that  part  of  the  field  from  McClellan's  report,  and 
as  to  those  engaged  on  our  side  from  my  personal  knowledge 
and  the  official  reports  of  division  commanders,  which  con- 
firm my  recollection  and  estimate. 

But  I  have  not  given  you  all  McClellan  said  on  the  subject 
of  superior  numbers.  On  the  27th  of  September,  he  wrote  to 
Halleck  as  follows : 

"  In  the  last  battles,  the  enemy  was  undoubtedly  greatly 
superior  to  us  in  numbers,  and  it  was  only  by  hard  fighting 
that  we  gained  the  advantage  we  did.  As  it  was,  the  result 
was  at  one  period  very  doubtful,  and  we  had  all  we  could  do 
to  win  the  day." 

Win  the  day,  indeed !  He  had  not  dared  to  renew  the 
the  attack  on  the  18th,  and  he  did  not  venture  to  claim  a 


31 


victory  till  on  the  19th,  when  he  found  General  Lee  had  re- 
crossed  the  Potomac,  and  then  he  began  to  breathe  freely  and 
crow  lustily.  Verily,  my  friends,  our  boys  in  rusty  gray  had 
a  wonderful  faculty  of  magnifying  and  multiplying  themselves 
in  battle;  and  language  could  not  convey  a  higher  compli- 
ment to  their  prowess  than  that  bestowed  by  McClellan  in 
the  extracts  I  have  given  you. 

Sharpsburg  was  no  defeat  to  our  arms.  All  of  McClellan's 
efforts  to  drive  us  from  the  position  had  been  baffled,  with 
immense  slaughter  of  his  troops — over  12,000  killed  and 
wounded,  according  to  his  report.  We  awaited  his  attack  all 
the  next  day,  but  he  was  afraid  to  renew  it  In  the  mean- 
time, reinforcements  were  marching  to  his  assistance,  while 
there  was  no  possibility  of  reinforcements  for  General  Lee  ; 
and  the  latter  had  the  Potomac  immediately  in  his  rear.  He, 
therefore,  very  properly  recrossed  that  river,  and  McClellan 
did  not  follow  him  to  renew  the  battle. 

Some  persons  are  disposed  to  consider  this  campaign  into 
Maryland  a  failure ;  but  that  was  not  the  case,  in  a  military 
aspect.  We  did  not  raise  Maryland  as  we  hoped,  but  that 
was  not  because  of  any  reverse  to  our  arms.  The  spirit  of 
resistance  had,  in  a  great  measure,  died  out  in  that  State. 
The  love  of  ease,  money,  and  the  comforts  of  life,  had  become 
stronger  than  the  love  of  liberty.  Many  wished  us  success, 
provided  it  did  not  cost  them  any  great  sacrifice ;  but  there 
were  very  few  who  were  disposed  to  join  us,  even  when  we 
first  crossed  the  Potomac.  Maryland,  however,  furnished 
many  most  gallant  soldiers,  who  came  South  at  the  beginning 
of  the  war. 

In  a  military  point  of  view,  this  campaign  was  a  great  suc- 
cess, though  it  did  not  accomplish  all  we  desired.  When 
General  Lee  took  command  of  the  army,  the  enemy  had  in- 
vested the  Confederate  capital,  and  was  in  sight  of  its  spires ; 
the  beleagured  city  had  been  relieved,  the  enemy  investing  it 
driven  out  of  the  State,  and  the  Confederate  commander,  at 
the  close  of  the  campaign,  stood  proudly  defiant  on  the  ex- 
treme northern  border  of  the  Confederacy,  while  his  opponent 
had  his  "  base  "  removed  to  the  northern  bank  of  the  Poto- 
mac, at  a  point  more  than  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  miles 
from  the  Confederate  capital,  as  the  bird  flies,  and  his  army 
had  been  so  crippled  that  he  was  not  able  to  resume  offensive 
operations  for  near  two  months.  When  his  army  did  move, 
General  Lee  was  in  a  position  to  interpose  and  inflict  at 
Fredericksburg  another  signal  defeat  on  the  invading  force. 


32 


I  might  multiply  the  instances  of  the  attempts  of  our  ene- 
mies to  falsify  the  truth  of  history,  in  order  to  excuse  their 
manifold  failures,  and  to  conceal  the  inferiority  of  their  troops 
in  all  the  elements  of  manhood,  but  I  would  become  too 
tedious. 

The  world  cannot  be  made  to  believe  that  a  population  of 
5,000,000  could  produce  more  soldiers  than  one  of  22,000,000, 
especially  when  the  latter  had  all  the  world  besides  to  recruit 
from.  This  is  too  much  like  the  old  story  of  the  Irishman 
who  captured  five  men  by  surrounding  them  all  at  one  time. 

Burnside  was  a  little  doubtful  which  had  the  numbers  at 
Fredericksburg,  and  he  states  frankly :  "  It  was  found  to  be 
impossible  to  get  the  men  up  to  the  works.  The  enemy's 
fire  was  too  hot  for  them."  His  force  across  the  river  at  the 
battle  was  100,000 ;  ours  was  very  considerably  smaller. 

Joe  Hooker — "  Fighting  Joe,"  as  he  was  called — for  a  won- 
der, did  not  claim  that  we  had  the  odds  against  him  when  he 
crossed  the  Rappahannock  to  Chancellorsville,  and  issued  an 
order  to  his  troops,  stating  that  he  had  the  "  rebel  army  "  just 
where  he  wanted  it,  and  would  proceed  to  crush  it — and  then 
went  back,  under  compulsion,  and  said,  with  a  great  flourish 
of  trumpets,  that  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  was  the  custodian 
of  its  own  honor ;  that  it  advanced  when  it  pleased,  fought 
when  it  pleased,  and  retired  when  it  pleased.  Fighting  Joe, 
however,  said  something  quite  as  amusing  as  the  old  story 
about  superior  numbers,  which  I  will  give  you.  In  his  testi- 
mony before  the  Committee  on  the  Conduct  of  the  War,  he 
said : 

"  Our  artillery  had  always  been  superior  to  that  of  the 
rebels,  as  was  also  our  infantry,  except  in  discipline,  and  that, 
for  reasons  not  necessary  to  mention,  never  did  equal  Lee's 
army.  With  a  rank  and  file  vastly  inferior  to  our  own,  intel- 
lectually and  physically,  that  army  has,  by  discipline  alone, 
acquired  a  character  for  steadiness  and  efficiency  unsurpassed, 
in  my  judgment,  in  ancient  or  modern  times.  We  have  not 
been  able  to  rival  it,  nor  has  there  been  any  approximation  to 
it  in  the  other  rebel  armies." 

Hooker  is  manifestly  of  opinion  that  the  successes  of  Lee's 
army  were  due  to  its  superior  discipline,  notwithstanding  its 
inferiority  in  numbers,  and  its  vast  inferiority,  intellectually 
and  physically,  to  his  own.  He  gives  another  opinion  which 
is  not  a  little  amusing,  and  may  throw  some  light  on  the  sub- 
ject.   In  the  same  testimony,  he  says : 

"Some  of  our  corps  commanders,  and  also  officers  of  other 


33 


rank,  appear  to  be  unwilling  to  go  into  a  fight;  in  my  judg- 
ment, there  are  not  many  who  really  like  to  fight." 

This  was  said  of  the  army  which  was  the  custodian  of  its 
own  honor.  It  did  not  seem  to  occur  to  Hooker  that,  per- 
haps, there  might  be  something  in  the  oft  quoted  maxim  of 
the  great  dramatic  poet,  who  has  said : 

"  Thrice  is  he  armed  that  hath  his  quarrel  just  5 
And  he  but  naked,  though  locked  up  in  steel, 
Whose  conscience  with  injustice  is  corrupted," 

to  explain  the  difference  in  the  conduct  of  the  two  armies. 

At  Gettysburg,  Meade,  with  an  army  of  100,000  at  least, 
was  outnumbered  by  ours,  less  than  60,000  strong ;  and  he 
was  very  much  relieved  when  General  Lee,  after  a  drawn  bat- 
tle, determined  to  retire,  because  his  ammunition  was  drawing 
short. 

When  Grant  took  command  of  all  the  armies,  he  deter- 
mined to  get  rid  of  the  bugbear  of  superior  numbers,  and  to 
have  the  odds  on  his  side,  so  that  he  might  destroy  us  by  the 
mere  attrition  of  numbers,  if  nothing  else.  It  was  a  very 
costly  experiment  to  him  in  that  wonderful  campaign,  from 
the  Rapidan  to  the  James,  where  the  military  genius  of  Gen- 
eral Lee,  and  the  fighting  capacity  and  endurance  of  his  army, 
were  so  conspicuously  displayed — a  campaign  which,  in  my 
opinion,  stands  unsurpassed  in  the  annals  of  warfare,  for  the 
marvellous  exhibition  of  all  the  elements  of  the  most  exalted 
military  genius,  on  the  part  of  our  commander,  and  the  sub- 
lime courage  and  steadiness  of  his  little  army,  which  was  less 
than  a  third  as  strong  as  the  opposing  force — but  the  history 
of  that  campaign  has  never  been  written.  With  an  army 
of  very  near  200,000  men,  with  the  reinforcements  that  were 
brought  up,  all  of  Grant's  plans  were  thwarted  and  defeated 
by  an  army  of  less  than  50,000  men,  in  a  contest  continuing 
for  nearly  forty  days,  and  extending  over  a  distance  of  eighty 
miles ;  and  he  was  finally,  after  a  loss  in  battle  of  consider- 
ably more  men  than  General  Lee  had  in  all,  compelled  to 
take  refuge  on  James  River,  at  a  point  to  which  he  could 
have  gone  without  the  loss  of  a  man.  He  was  then  com- 
pelled to  invoke  to  his  aid,  as  an  ally  of  his  process  of  attri- 
tion, lingering  starvation.  These  two  agencies  slowly  but 
surely  did  their  work ;  and  when  at  the  head  of  more  than 
150,000  men,  superbly  equipped  and  bountifully  fed,  he  re- 
ceived the  surrender  of  less  than  8,000  worn  and  emaciated 
Confederate  soldiers,  with  arms  in  their  hands ;  and,  including 


34 


the  teamsters,  extra-duty-men,  wounded  and  sick,  camp-fol- 
lowers and  stragglers,  who  afterwards  came  in,  27,805  men  in 
all,  we  can  well  imagine  the  feelings  with  which  he  and  his 
principal  officers  looked  each  other  in  the  face,  and  asked,  as 
well  they  might :  "  Is  this  the  army  which  has  so  long  baffled 
all  our  mighty  efforts." 

It  was  but  the  ghost  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia 
which  they  conquered !  What  a  scene  was  that,  at  that 
hitherto  quiet  and  unknown  village,  in  the  interior  of  Vir- 
ginia !  On  the  one  hand,  stands  the  very  unprepossessing 
form  of  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  the  mere  creature  of  accident,  but 
the  successful  commander  now,  at  the  head  of  a  mighty  host, 
in  all  the  "  pride,  pomp  and  circumstance  of  war," — I  will 
not  say  glorious  war — waiting  to  receive  the  surrender  of  his 
great  antagonist.  On  the  other  hand,  approaches  the  stately 
and  majestic  form  of  Robert  E.  Lee  : 

"  Where  every  god  did  seem  to  set  his  seal, 
To  give  the  world  assurance  of  a  man." 

Following  him  come  the  gaunt  forms  of  less  than  8,000 
men  in  tattered  gray,  to  lay  down  the  arms  they  had  won  in 
battle,  and  which  they  had  borne  so  long  with  honor.  As 
they  stack  those  arms,  they  cast  their  eyes  upon  their  beloved 
commander,  whose  heart  is  breaking  with  a  grief  unutterable, 
and  they  burst  into  uncontrollable  tears — those  men  whose 
bold  hearts  had  never  quailed  amid  the  deadly  strife  of  the 
battle-field,  whatever  odds  were  opposed  to  them.  They 
are  not  now  conquered  in  battle,  but  they  lay  down  their 
arms,  because  they  scarce  have  strength  to  carry  them,  and 
because  they  are  weary  and  foot  sore,  and  cannot  longer 
march.  Oh !  it  was  a  most  piteous,  moving  sight — enough 
to  make  the  angels  weep.  Where  was  the  glory  of  that  vic- 
tory ?  Had  the  leader  of  that  immense  host  had  the  feelings 
of  magnanimity  which  ought  to  animate  all  true  soldiers,  he 
would  have  marched  his  army  to  Washington,  and  demanded 
that  full,  complete  and  perfect  peace,  amnesty  and  protection, 
be  granted  to  the  men  who  had  given  such  unmistakable  evi- 
dence of  devotion  to  truth,  honor  and  right. 

No  man  could  look  upon  that  scene  at  Appomattox  Court- 
house, and  for  a  moment,  in  his  heart,  believe  that  the  follow- 
ers of  Robt.  E.  Lee  were  traitors  or  rebels.  But,  my  comrades, 
the  "victor"  on  that  occasion  had  not  the  remotest  concep- 
tion of  the  true  meaning  of  the  word  "  magnanimity,"  much 
less  of  the  sentiment.    Talk  of  Grant's  magnanimity  on  that 


35 


occasion,  in  conceding  the  terms  that  he  did  to  General  Lee's 
demands  !  I  scout  the  idea.  General  Lee  went  to  that  in- 
terview with  the  firm  resolve  to  cut  his  way  out  with  the 
small  remnant  left,  if  terms  were  not  granted  him  deemed 
honorable  in  war.  Grant  saw  the  blue  mountains  not  far  off — 
he  had  sad  experience  of  what  that  little  army  was  capable — 
he  was  afraid  General  Lee  might  make  his  way  into  those 
mountains,  and  then  he  would  lose  the  supreme  glory  of  ter- 
minating the  war  by  the  surrender  to  him  of  his  great  antago- 
nist, and  he  granted  the  terms,  without  which  he  could  not 
have  procured  that  surrender.  Call  you  this  magnanimity  ? 
But  it  is  said  he  prevented  General  Lee  from  being  prose- 
cuted for  treason.  He  had,  then,  fortunately  for  him,  a  men- 
tor who  forced  the  idea  into  his  dull  brain,  that  his  own  honor 
and  glory  were  in  some  way  connected  with  that  matter,  in 
maintaining  inviolate  the  parole  granted  General  Lee  and  his 
soldiers,  and  he  acted  in  accordance  with  the  suggestions 
made  to  him.  That  mentor  has  since  gone,  and  what  has 
been  his  course,  as  the  head  of  a  powerful  government, 
towards  General  Lee  and  his  followers  ?  Compared  to  what 
has  been  done  to  our  people,  it  would  have  been  mercy  to 
have  hung  all  our  leaders,  civil  and  military,  and  then  granted 
peace  and  amnesty  to  the  masses.  Jeffreys  himself  could  not 
have  devised  more  exquisite'torture  and  cruelty  than  has  been 
inflicted  on  all  our  people. 

From  that  field  at  Appomattox,  where  the  vast  superiority 
of  the  Southern  man  and  soldier  over  the  Northern  was  made 
so  manifest  to  the  dullest  comprehension,  there  went  up  a 
vow  to  degrade  and  humiliate  into  the  very  dust  the  race 
which  had  proved  itself  so  far  above  its  conquerors  in  all  the 
elements  of  genuine  manhood.  Death  could  not  do  it,  for 
the  slaughter  of  heroes  could  but  make  their  virtues  shine 
the  brighter.  Is  it  necessary  for  me  to  specify  the  hellish 
devices  which  have  been  adopted  to  carry  out  the  firm  resolve 
to  break  and  lower  the  spirit  of  our  people,  or  show  how 
they  are  now  in  constant  operation  ?  Let  the  state  of  things 
in  your  own  State,  down-trodden  under  the  feet  of  your  former 
slaves,  and  of  their  far  worse  coadjutors,  the  carpet  baggers 
and  native  renegades,  with  martial  law  in  existence  in  many 
quarters,  tell  the  tale  ! 

That  great  philosophic  historian,  Gibbon,  tells  us,  in  speak- 
ing of  the  heathen  Emperor  of  Rome,  Marcus  Aurelius 
Antoninus,  that  "  he  was  severe  to  himself,  indulgent  to  the 
imperfections  of  others,  just  and  beneficent  to  all  mankind. 


36 


He  regretted  that  Avidius  Cassius,  who  excited  a  rebellion  in 
Syria,  had  disappointed  him,  by  a  voluntary  death,  of  the 
pleasure  of  converting  an  enemy  into  a  friend  ;  and  he  justi- 
fied the  sincerity  of  that  sentiment  by  moderating  the  zeal  of 
the  Senate  against  the  adherents  of  the  traitor." 

Compare  the  sentiments  and  conduct  of  that  heathen  ruler, 
of  a  heathen  people,  with  those  of  the  head  of  this  free,  en- 
lightened, Christian  republic,  and  his  Senate  and  followers,  and 
what  must  be  the  judgment? 

As,  at  Appomattox,  the  vast  inferiority  of  Grant  to  Gen. 
Lee,  as  a  military  commander,  was  made  most  manifest,  so,  at 
the  head  of  a  powerful  nation,  his  utter  deficiency  in  all  the 
elements  of  that  true  grandeur  of  soul,  so  conspicuously  dis- 
played in  retirement  by  his  great  antagonist,  has  been  most 
signally  demonstrated — the  career  of  the  two,  respectively, 
thus  furnishing  another  illustration  of  the  fact,  that 

"  Pigmies  are  pigmies  still,  though  perch'd  on  Alps, 
Pyramids  are  pyramids  in  vales." 

We  are  sometimes  told  that  we  must  turn  our  backs  upon 
the  past,  forget  all  our  cherished  traditions,  ideas  and  princi- 
ples, and  fall  in  with  the  progressive  spirit  of  the  age,  singing 
paeans  to  a  regenerated  and  re-invigorated  Union — that  we 
submitted  our  cause  to  the  arbitrament  of  arms,  and  the  decis- 
ion was  against  us — and  that  the  highest  law  which  can  exist 
is  that  established  by  force  of  arms. 

That  the  red-handed  conqueror,  with  his  foot  upon  the 
necks  of  his  victims,  or  the  armed  robber  on  the  highway 
should  assert  such  monstrous  doctrine  as  this,  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at ;  but  when  it  comes  from  the  man,  who,  while 
struggling  for  the  right,  has  been  compelled  to  yield  to  the 
force  of  arms  in  an  unequal  contest,  the  mantle — I  had  almost 
said  of  charity,  but  will  say — of  oblivion  should  be  allowed 
to  fall  over  the  weakness  that  cannot  resist  the  temptations  of 
adversity. 

I  fear  there  are  too  many  prone  to  adopt  the  maxins  of  a 
prudence,  which,  as  Burke  says,  when  carried  too  far,  degen- 
erates into  a  "  reptile  virtue." 

My  comrades,  much  loose  language  has  been  used,  by 
friend  as  well  as  foe,  upon  the  subject  of  submitting  our  rights 
to  the  arbitrament  of  arms ;  but,  in  no  sense  can  the  Southern 
States  be  said  to  have  submitted  their  right  to  withdraw  from 
the  Union  to  any  such  arbitrament.  They  exercised  that 
right  which  was  theirs,  and  tendered  a  peacable  settlement  of 


37 


all  the  questions  growing  out  of  their  withdrawal.  A.  war  of 
invasion  and  coercion  was  most  unjustly  and  ruthlessly  waged 
against  them,  and  they  resorted  to  arms  to  defend  their  rights, 
their  country,  their  homes,  their  all  against  the  sword,  rob- 
bery and  fire,  combined,  all  of  which  were  employed  by  the 
spoiler.  .The  result  of  the  war  settled  no  question  of  right, 
but  merely  furnished  another  instance  of  the  fact,  that  in  this 
world,  truth  and  justice  do  not  always  prevail,  and  that 
might  is  often  more  powerful  than  right. 

When  the  captive  Jews  sat  down  by  the  rivers  of  Babylon 
and  wept  for  the  desolation  of  their  land,  their  spoilers 
required  of  them  mirth  and  a  song,  but  they  hung  their  harps 
upon  the  willows ;  and  the  Psalmist  has  put  into  their  mouths 
these  words : 

"  How  shall  we  sing  the  Lord's  song  in  a  strange  land  ? 
"  If  I  forget  thee,  O,  Jerusalem,  let  my  right  hand  forget 
her  cunning. 

"  If  I  do  not  remember  thee,  let  my  tongue  cleave  to  the 
roof  of  my  mouth." 

Can  we  be  less  faithful  than  they  ? 

No  !  we  can  never  turn  our  backs  upon  the  past,  unless  we 
turn  them  upon  the  graves  and  memories  of  Lee,  Sidney 
Johnston,  Stonewall  Jackson,  Gregg  and  all  our  brave  com- 
rades who  fell  upon  the  field  of  honor  and  glory.  We  can 
never  forget,  until  we  consent  to  mingle  and  amalgamate 
our  race  and  blood  with  that  of  our  former  slaves  in  a  universal 
miscegenation,  so  as  utterly  to  degrade  ourselves  to  the  level 
to  which  our  foes  are  seeking  to  reduce  us. 

We  must  and  will  preserve,  green  and  fresh,  the  memories 
of  our  dead  heroes,  while  the  noble  and  true  women  of  the 
South  will  continue,  from  year  to  year,  to  strew  flowers  on 
their  graves,  and  teach  their  fair  daughters  to  perpetuate  the 
pious  custom ;  and  we  will  adhere  to  the  principles  for  which 
Lee,  Sydney  Johnston  and  Jackson  fought  and  died.  To  show 
to  all  ages  that  we  were  not  unworthy  to  be  the  soldiers  of 
our  great  leaders,  let  us  rear  a  monument,  or  monuments,  to 
them,  which  shall  tower  towards  the  Heavens,  and  testify  for 
all  time,  that  the  men  that  were  true  to  them  in  life,  did  not 
abandon  them  in  death.  Such  monuments  are  not  necessary 
to  perpetuate  their  fame,  for  that  is  as  wide  as  the  bounds  of 
civilization,  and  will  be  as  enduring  as  the  mountains,  and 
hills,  and  plains,  and  valleys,  and  rivers  of  their  own  well 
beloved  South.  It  is  to  ourselves,  that  we  owe  the  duty  of 
furnishing  an  enduring  witness  of  our  fidelity  to  our  cause 
and  the  memory  of  our  great  leaders. 


38 


My  comrades,  might  and  wrong  cannot  always  prevail — a 
just  and  righteous  God  rules  above  and  overall;  and  how- 
ever gloomy  and  dark  everything  may  now  appear  around  us,  I 
have  a  firm  and  abiding  faith  that  the  time  is  coming  when  it 
will  be  a  higher  and  more  honorable  title  for  a  man  to  be  able 
to  say :  "  My  ancestor  wore  the  gray,  and  fought  in  the  same 
great  struggle  for  right,  to  which  Robert  E.  Lee,  Sydney 
Johnston  and  Stonewall  Jackson  devoted  themselves,"  than  to 
be  able  to  claim  descent  from  one  who  fought  at  Ronceovalles, 
or  came  over  with  William  the  Conqueror. 

Let  us  then  foster  and  extend  our  fraternal  associations  and 
perpetuate  them ;  and  let  every  Confederate  soldier  jealously 
guard  his  reputation  and  honor  as  such,  so  as  to  transmit  the 
rich  heritage  to  his  posterity  unimpaired,  taking  to  himself 
as  a  guide,  in  its  full  and  highest  import,  the  advice  of  Polonius 
to  his  son  : 

*'   to  thine  ownself  be  true ; 

And  it  must  follow,  as  night  the  day ; 
Thou  canst  not  be  false  to  any  man." 


0 


